Cardinals face questions after latest collapse
The notion that Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury could be on the hot seat or that Kyler Murray wasn’t the right quarterback for the team’s future would have been absurd just a couple of months ago, when the Cardinals were bulldozing through their schedule with a 10-2 record through Dec. 5.
But the Cardinals fell apart in a hurry. They lost four of their final five regular-season games and were utterly embarrassed in a 34-11 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the wildcard round on Monday night.
“Losing is one thing, but when you don’t even make it competitive, it’s another thing,” Murray said.
Kingsbury was hired in 2018 as the man who could help nurture the development of Murray, whom the team took with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2019 draft.
They’ve had good moments together but Monday wasn’t among them. Nothing Kingsbury called seemed to work and Murray had one of his worst games as a pro, completing 19 of 34 passes for 137 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.
“We’ve got to be better,” Kingsbury said on Tuesday. “This league is about closing strong and building momentum into the playoffs. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that.”
It’s the second straight season that Arizona’s regressed as the season’s progressed. The Cardinals lost their final two games of the 2020 season to finish 8-8 and just miss the playoffs.
Steelers seek starting QB
For the first time in Mike Tomlin’s long tenure as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, he enters the offseason unsure of who his starting quarterback will be in the fall.
The only certainty is that it won’t be Ben Roethlisberger, who has given every indication he will retire after an 18-year career.
Maybe it’ll be Mason Rudolph, who has spent four years as an understudy with mixed results and is currently the only quarterback on the roster under contract for next season. Maybe it’ll be Dwayne Haskins, who flamed out in Washington before being given a lifeline by Tomlin last January. Maybe it’ll be a rookie. Or maybe a veteran free agent in need of a job.
“It’s a challenge, man,” Tomlin said Tuesday after his 15th season at the helm ended with a thud in a blowout loss to Kansas City in the opening round of the playoffs. “It kind of makes you uneasy. But I’ve learned to run to those challenges. I’ve learned to appreciate those challenges. The uncertainty surrounding them is inspiring to me in terms of producing work.”
Tomlin has made no secret that he’d like to find a quarterback who can move, something that hasn’t been in Roethlisberger’s toolbox for several years.
“Man, quarterback mobility is valued not only by me, but everyone is just a component of today’s game and increasingly so,” Tomlin said.