Report: Kyler Murray, Kliff Kingsbury 'Increasingly Distant' amid Cardinals Season

There is a reason that Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury were not on the same page.

Over the course of a lost year for the team, the Arizona Cardinals head coach and franchise quarterback have become more distant.

Murray wanted more freedom at the line of scrimmage, particularly with running plays, but plays designed to get the ball into the hands of Arizona's playmakers didn't come to fruition.

As they stumbled to the finish line last season, the clashing personality between Kingsbury and Murray trickled down to the rest of the locker room.

The report said that the tension that had become obvious to people in the locker room could have been calmed by direct communication between the two quarterbacks.

According to a team source, before Murray's injury, Kingsbury was said to be extremely frustrated with the quarterback because he was starting to get to people.

Turner has been forced to serve as a buffer between the two quarterbacks.

It was obvious to everyone watching the games this season that the two teams weren't on the same page. They were involved in a shouting match on the sideline during a game.

On the day after the sideline incident, Murray told reporters that he was animated on the sideline. "Calm down, we're fine." We're going to fix it. I was only saying that it was good that we scored. Don't worry, just chill out.

The team was working through as an offense where we want to be and what we want to do, and you have competitors that have a level of intensity like that, I think it will push us forward.

Over the past year, theCardinals have completely fallen down. After winning 10 of their first 12 games, they are now 5-15 in their last 20 games.

The team's rough finish last season didn't deter Arizona from extending the contracts of general manager Steve Keim and head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Keim was taking a break due to health issues.

Even though Murray signed a five-year extension in July, it was marred by a clause that required him to do independent film study each week during the season.

The clause was taken out of the contract.

Murray tore his knee in the first quarter of the Cards' game against the New England Pats. The 25-year-old is on track to be ready for the start of the regular season in three years, according to a report.

With three games left in the season, the Cards are tied with the Rams for the second worst record in the league. They haven't had a winning season in two years.