The Arizona Cardinals finished a troubling late-season collapse by losing their NFL Wild Card playoff game Monday night to the Los Angeles Rams, 34-11.
As could be expected, the disappointing result is prompting plenty of questions and criticism among Arizona fans and media. Dan Bickley and Vince Marotta, hosts of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM’s morning show, led the charge Tuesday morning. In their view, it’s time for Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury to go.
Marotta called the playoff loss “a disgusting end to a promising season.” The Cardinals began the 2021 season with seven consecutive victories. By Week 13, they had a 10-2 record. But following its bye week, Arizona imploded, losing four of their final six games. Most troubling among them was a 30-12 loss to the Detroit Lions, who finished with the second-worst record (3-13-1) in the NFL.
Bickley was even more pointed with his criticism in a piece written for the Arizona Sports 98.7 FM website. The longtime columnist and host points out the pattern of late-season collapses in Kingsbury’s tenure with Arizona. In 2019, the Cardinals finished 2-7. The 2020 season ended with a 3-6 slide. Add this season’s 2-4 collapse and the pattern is apparent.
As Bickley said on the air Tuesday morning, keeping Kingsbury is harder to justify with the coaches likely to be available. He singled out Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles as a good fit for the Cardinals, obviously favoring a coach with a different philosophy than Kingsbury.
Yet the Cardinals have shown improvement during Kingsbury’s three seasons, progressing from a 5-10-1 mark to 11-6 this season. That may be good enough for team owner Michael Bidwell and general manager Steve Keim. According to Bickley, it shouldn’t be. Management should be aggressive, rather than content.
You can listen to Bickley & Marotta each morning, Monday through Friday, on the Arizona Sports 98.7 FM website and app. The show is also available via podcast.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
