Kliff Kingsbury Fired as Cardinals HC; Steve Keim Resigns as GM After 4-13 Season

The general manager of the Arizona Cardinals, Steve Keim, resigned after four years on the job.

Arizona Cardinals @AZCardinals

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He was on the sideline for four years and did not win a single game. After the team fell short of expectations, he was ousted. The 43-year-old signed a contract extension in March 2022.

Keim extended his contract at the same time. After taking a leave of absence for health reasons, his future was in doubt.

The 50-year-old had been with the organization since 1999. He worked his way up in the organization.

There was a brief run of success after Keim was promoted. The Cardinals made it to the playoffs in two of the last three years.

The need for change in the front office and coaching staff was inescapable.

Ian Rapoport noted that the relationship "wasn't working for either side."

Rapoport said that Joseph should get a long look as he's very respected in the building.

The Washington Post's La Canfora reported that executives around the National Football League are anticipating that Arizona will have a new coach.

According to Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Cards hadn't made a final decision on Kingsbury but were preparing for a possible coaching search.

Even if no course of action had been taken up to that point, it still sends a message to the ownership that they need to find a new coach before the current one leaves.

In December, Jeremy Fowler and Josh Weinfuss wrote about how the relationship between coach Kliff Kingsbury and the team's hierarchy has soured over the last two years.

A source said that he might resign because he was tired of the B.S.

When it hired him, Arizona took a huge leap of faith. He had a losing record in his six years as Texas Tech's head coach and had never been a head coach in the NFL.

There was a way to get through the madness. The franchise was about to make Murray its quarterback of the future and targeting a young, offensive-minded head coach was a good idea. The special skill set of the No. 1 pick could potentially be utilized by the Texas Tech coach.

It was a similar situation to when he was at Texas Tech, as the Cards faded down the stretch of the season.

The Arizona team lost seven of its last nine games. Nobody wanted to see him deliver results immediately.

The overtime victory in Week 7 of the 2020 campaign appeared to be a defining moment for the team. TheCardinals finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs.

The wind out of their sails was caused by dropping four of their last five games in the regular season. The Los Angeles Rams defeated them in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.

The second-half collapses of Arizona were too frequent to be coincidences.

Thor Nystrom @thorku

Kliff Kingsbury career as HCGames 1-7: 45-24-1 (57.0%)

Rest of year: 17-45 (27.4%)

The Cardinals are not a dynamic offensive team. They were ranked 30th in offensive efficiency.

Murray's development was stagnant even before he suffered a tornACL.

The quarterback threw for 3,722 yards, 20 touchdown and 12 picks as a first-year player and finished with a 57.7 QBR.

In his fourth season, the 25-year-old threw for 2,368 yards, 14 touchdown and seven interception with a 51.1 QBR before he tore his knee in the 14th week of the season.

Murray is a two-time Pro Bowler, so he has not been a complete flop. He hasn't had a breakthrough like Josh Allen did in 2020.

The blame for that shouldn't be on one person.

Murray's five-year, $230.5 million extension raises some obvious questions about his level of commitment off the field.

On the All Things Covered podcast in November, Patrick said that his former teammate was a bad person.

All Things Covered @ATCoveredPod

"Kyler Murray don't care about nobody but Kyler Murray"Patrick Peterson comments on what's going on with his former team the Cardinals, since they are always in the news.

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If the same problems persist under a new coach, the consensus may evolve.

It is difficult to argue that he was getting the most out of his time with the team, as there was little to indicate that a change was on the way.

Someone will have a serious challenge on their hands if they succeed. Murray's injury will likely cause him to miss time in 2023, but it's not a foregone conclusion that he can retain his explosiveness once he recovers.

It will have consequences if Murray isn't the guy. They have the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft in three years.