The Arizona Cardinals retained head coach Kliff Kingsbury for another season.
And now that the Houston Texans have hired David Culley, every coach in the NFL has been replaced with a new hope. Meaning that there are several fantastic names out there who would or have done a better job than Kingsbury.
The Arizona Cardinals didn’t necessarily miss a golden opportunity, but keeping Kingsbury for another year can easily set the team back. Especially with a few successful big names out there capable of taking the Cardinals back to the playoffs.
Kingsbury’s tenure in Year Two with the Cardinals was turbulent at best. After leading the NFC West at 6-3 through nine games that included upsets over the Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills, the Cardinals collapsed, finishing the season 2-5.
You can pin much of the blame on Kingsbury. The coach stubbornly held onto playcalling duties which grew even more questionable as the season wore on. For one, he brought back too many dink and dunk plays that didn’t work early in the season. And far too much mismanagement on fourth down sunk the Cardinals.
Kingsbury, who finished 35-40 in his previous tenure at Texas Tech, was perhaps one of the unlikeliest selections for an NFL head coaching gig. But here he is, entering Year Three and a make or break year. Perhaps Kingsbury learns from his mistakes. Perhaps he doesn’t.
Let’s look at why the Cardinals should have let him go following the 2020 season.
Prime head coaching candidates
Perhaps the biggest name that once again got snubbed was Eric Bieniemy. An offensive coordinator since 2018, Bieniemy comes from the Andy Reid coaching tree. A tree that has breeded a few successful head coaches.
And he has done something Kingsbury couldn’t do at Texas Tech; he helped turn Patrick Mahomes into a winning quarterback. A Super Bowl-winning quarterback whose candidacy as the G.O.A.T will soar if he defeats Tom Brady‘s Buccaneers.
But Bieniemy is one of a few names the Cardinals missed out on by retaining Kingsbury. Two of which are bound to return down the road as NFL head coaches.
Imagine having Jason Garrett on the sidelines? While Garrett never made it to an NFC Championship Game, he still posted an 85-67 regular-season record and made five playoff appearances, winning two of those games. He also coached the Cowboys for nine and a half seasons. He’s a proven commodity who immediately upgrades the Cardinals.
What about Doug Pederson? Pederson, who was unceremoniously fired from the Philadelphia Eagles after just one bad season and supposedly throwing the week 17 game against Washington, would bring his Super Bowl-winning experience to the desert. You can’t deny that Pederson, who made three playoff appearances in five seasons, is an immediate upgrade over the incumbent Kingsbury.
With so many prime coaching candidates out there, general manager Steve Keim remained committed to Kingsbury. But coaching candidates aside, let’s look at Kingsbury’s in-game decisions.
Mismanagement on fourth down
Let’s get one thing straight. If a coach goes for it on fourth down and they convert, they look like a genius. And Kingsbury’s gutsy playcalling definitely kept the Cardinals in a few games when most coaches would have punted the ball away.
So kudos there. But what about all the times when Kingsbury left opponents with a short field and the opponents capitalized?
Or, when Kingsbury should have went for it, and didn’t? Times when you told yourself, “Kingsbury’s leaving the offense out in this situation,” only to see him try for a field goal (and missed) or punt and fail to give the Cardinals another chance?
The Miami game jumps out, where Kingsbury failed to convert a fourth and one. Miami capitalized on the short field and it left the Cardinals scrambling with a late fourth-quarter drive. Another fourth and short late in the game, Kingsbury sent Zane Gonzalez to try for a field goal. Gonzalez, struggling with kicks as it was, saw his kick fall short.
And let’s not even get started on the season finale against the Los Angeles Rams when Kingsbury punted late in the fourth quarter while down by 11 points. It nullified the Cardinals’ playoff hopes and sent them packing into the offseason, wondering what could have been.
Again, Kingsbury’s gutsiness won the Cardinals a couple of games. But far too often, he called the wrong play at the wrong time. Going for it when he should have punted. Kicking the field goal with a struggling kicker and punting when going for it made more sense.
And in-game decisions aside, we haven’t even discussed a plethora of questionable play calling throughout games. Including his bringing back the dink and dunk passing attack after Kyler Murray sprained his AC joint.
Sure, it’s smart to keep your quarterback healthy. But Kinsbury had a solid committee in the backfield. However, he mismanaged the committee and other offensive players collectively. Which we’ll discuss in the next section.
Misusing offensive players
DeAndre Hopkins was a great pickup. He’s one of the best receivers in football and it makes sense to go to him often. But it seemed like Kingsbury forgot that he had several decent gadget players at receiver. Either that or Murray tried to make it a point to preset his throws to Hopkins.
Aging, Larry Fitzgerald was one of those underused players. And despite his lack of production, he remains a sure-handed possession receiver. But does that explain his 72 targets in 13 games? Fitzgerald’s 75 percent catch percentage was the second-best of his career, behind his 75.2 percent in 2015. With such a high catch percentage, Murray should have targeted the future Hall of Famer more often. And Kingsbury should have made it a point to get him more involved.
Chase Edmonds outplayed Kenyan Drake between weeks 10 and 15. Yet he only saw 40 carries in those games? Edmonds isn’t the best back when featured, but as part of a two-man committee, he dominates.
Here are Edmonds’ yards-per-attempt in those weeks, starting with week 10: 7.00, 6.50, 4.83, 4.67, 4.57, 4.27. He also had 18 receptions on 27 targets, good for a 66 percent catch percentage. You can also tack on two receiving touchdowns.
Yet Drake continued to get the bulk of the carries. And while he had a stellar performance in week 10 averaging 6.25 yards per carry, he had only one other game in that same span where he averaged over 4.0 yards per carry. In the other four games, he averaged 2.64, 3.55, 3.48, and 2.6.
Drake’s upside? He scored a grand total of five touchdowns in that span. But they were primarily short-yardage runs.
Relying far too much on Hopkins and underusing perhaps his most versatile chess piece on offense next to Kyler Murray allowed the Cardinals to get too predictable. On offense, they averaged 29.8 points per game through their first nine contests.
In games 10 through 16, they averaged 20.5 points per game. Defenses figured out Kingsbury’s offense. And Kingsbury not only failed to adjust, he severely misused his players. Leading to the eventual 2-5 record down the stretch.