Sporting News released their rankings of all 32 NFL head coaches ahead of the 2015 season on Monday
We all know what we have in a head coach in Bruce Arians. I detailed the other day just how much I and other Cardinals fans trust in what he is doing to make the Arizona Cardinals a legitimate threat to win it all year after year now.
On Monday, Sporting News released their rankings of the 32 NFL head coaches for the 2015 season. They ranked Arians fifth-best on the list. Granted, a biased opinion such as mine could say he is the best but fifth-best is showing a lot of respect given the full body of work to this point.
More from Cardinals News
- Arizona Cardinals: Could Eric Bieniemy come to the desert?
- Would Jonathan Gannon be a good fit for the Arizona Cardinals?
- Arizona Cardinals: Budda Baker right in his take regarding the next coach
- Arizona Cardinals: 3 reasons new coach should want to work with Murray
- Arizona Cardinals special teams could be completely revamped in 2023
Ahead of Arians was New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. That’s not a bad list at all ahead of Arians no matter what you may think personally of any of them.
Arians, who won NFL Coach of the Year in 2014 and was also voted Coach of the Year in 2012 when he was an interim coach for the Indianapolis Colts, has proven he should be considered amongst the elite of NFL coaches. After taking the Colts to a 9-3 record in Chuck Pagano’s absence, he’s lead the Cardinals to two straight 10 win or more seasons for the first time since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1988. The Cardinals were 10-6 in 2013 and 11-5 in 2014 with a playoff loss last season.
Belichick is coming off a Super Bowl win. Carroll is coming off an NFC Championship and a Super Bowl Championship in 2013. Harbaugh has consistently gotten his team to the playoffs including a Super Bowl Championship in 2012. McCarthy got his team a Super Bowl Championship in 2010. So clearly Arians has some work to do to climb this list.
Arians has the right attitude and I think this year the right personnel, save for health, to at least get his team deeper into the playoffs this season. I won’t predict a Super Bowl or anything. It is so hard to get to that point. However it is clear though that this is a respectable ranking for Arians and the highest ranking for a coach that has not yet won a Super Bowl Championship.