Arizona Cardinals team President Michael Bidwill needs to take drastic steps to lead his organization back in the right direction
What was on display this past Thursday night at the home of the Arizona Cardinals was downright embarrassing. It has become quite obvious that the hiring of head coach Steve Wilks and his staff was an unmitigated mistake. Anyone who would disagree with that following the Denver Broncos’ 45-10 drubbing of the Cards on national television is just flat-out in denial.
An incompetent group of coaches is not the only thing that Cardinals’ team President Michael Bidwill needs to worry about, however. One look around State Farm Stadium during the lopsided loss told another story. Something that was quite a shock to the system, to say the least.
A sea of orange Broncos jerseys adorned the seats of the place where Arizona plays their games. What was once one of the NFL’s best home-field advantages has apparently gone away. And it’s not too difficult to determine who’s to blame for a situation that has become so sad.
Steve Keim, the Cards’ sixth-year general manager, has done an awful job over the past three offseasons. Sure, the league’s two-time Executive of the Year did a few good things during that time period. The good Keim has done, however, has not been enough to offset the many egregious errors he has made.
There have been far too many misses on draft picks. Most of the free agent acquisitions Keim has engineered since 2016 have been mediocre at best. Choosing Wilks to take over the Cardinals’ head-coaching duties may go down as one of the worst hires in team history.
If that’s not enough, there was also an off-the-field incident committed by Keim that was also embarrassing to the franchise. Back in July, Arizona’s top personnel man was arrested, jailed and suspended for extreme DUI. Everyone makes mistakes, but the fact that Keim operated a vehicle when his blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit could be viewed as an inexcusable act.
Wilks is also highly to blame for the current state of the Cards. Now seven games into the season, the excuse about him being a first-year head coach is getting tiring. Wilks’ squad has achieved the trifecta, meaning that they’ve been equally horrific on offense, defense and special teams throughout the 2018 campaign.
This is an outright plea to Mr. Bidwill. Some major housecleaning within the organization needs to take place. Start at the top, work your way down and then hope that it will be Cardinals fans filling the seats of your home stadium from here on out.