GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals were embarrassed in Detroit on Sunday, losing to a one-win Lions team that was missing a multitude of starters on both sides of the ball including their top two playmakers in D'Andre Swift and T.J. Hockenson.
Over the last two seasons now, the Arizona Cardinals 0-3 now in games where a win would have clinched a playoff berth.
Last season, the Cardinals lost games in Week 16 and Week 17 to backup quarterbacks leading the 49ers and Rams to miss the playoffs entirely.
Of course, the 10-4 Cardinals are going to get more opportunities to clinch this season. But, Locked On Cardinals podcast host Alex Clancy is placing much of the blame on head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Clancy has stood firm on his opinion since last year that Kingsbury is not the right option at head coach for Arizona. Now, he's advanced that position, saying if the Cardinals don't win or make it to the Super Bowl that he should not be retained as head coach.
Locked On Cardinals co-host Bo Brack disagrees entirely with that assessment.
On Wednesday's Locked On Cardinals podcast, they debated the topic.
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"He has at this point shown that he’s at least an NFL-caliber something," Clancy said on the Locked On Cardinals podcast. "We don’t know if that’s a head coach or offensive coordinator…The crux of my argument is that he’s not a good enough head coach to elevate the B+, A- level talent that’s on this roster 1-53 on gameday."
Clancy said there are no excuses for injuries or personnel for Arizona after Sunday's lost to a depleted Detroit team, resulting in what he believes is a tipping point for Kingsbury.
“Kliff Kingsbury has a ceiling and I think we’re about at it," Clancy said. "And it kind of reached a tipping point when they lost to Detroit. Regardless of who the Cardinals had, that what a one-win team with all of their 1’s not named Jared Goff off the field. So you can’t give him the benefit of the doubt for the Cardinals not having their roster when the worst team in football didn’t have their best players on the field and the (Cardinals) put up a 12-spot against that team.”
Co-host Bo Brack said it takes a loss like Arizona's to Detroit on Sunday to bring this narrative out. But Brack said Clancy is creating wildly unrealistic expectations for Kingsbury that aren't warranted.
“What we’re creating here for Kliff Kingsbury is unrealistic expectations, we’re setting the bar too high," Brack said on the Locked On Cardinals podcast. "And let’s keep in mind what the perception of this roster was going into the season and where they are now. When you talk about a lack of ability to raise and elevate play, you (Alex Clancy) had the Cardinals at 8-9 before the season. I know a lot of that had to do with your lack of faith in Kliff Kingsbury, but they’ve exceeded those expectations and guys have developed on the offensive and defensive side of the football and you have to give credit to him and his coaching staff for that.”
While Clancy won’t give Kingsbury any credit for players developed on the defensive side by mainly Vance Joseph, he gives him credit for James Conner’s play this season on offense, but argues the rest of the offense was already talented.
“Yes, the playcalling for James Conner has been exemplary…When Kliff does something well, you credit him for it," Clancy said. "But in the body of work since he’s come into the league, he’s never coached a game that resulted in a win when the Cardinals absolutely needed a win, that’s a truthful statement…When you have the chance to clinch a playoff spot multiple times against backup quarterbacks and then a one loss team, Sunday against Detroit, hat shows a blackhole where a good coach can show up and he just hasn’t been able to do it yet.”
Brack asserts that looking at how far the Cardinals have come since 2018 and their improvement year-over-year under Kingsbury is a good enough argument that he deserves to stick around.
“You’re going from one of the worst-constructed rosters in 2018, to you’ve got a young quarterback that you’re developing and you’re tweaking this roster year in and year out taking it from the doldrums of the NFL to contention," Brack said. "You have to kind of take some of the consolations along with that. Some of the door prizes along with that…You plucked Kliff Kingsbury from being fired from his alma-mater, going 35-40 in the Big 12 and you expect three years later that he should be up there with playcallers like Sean McVay or Bill Belichick and it’s just not realistic…The fact that it’s steady, incremental improvement year in and year out, I think that that’s enough."
“That game on Sunday remains unacceptable but there can be two things that remain true," Brack continued. "He’s the guy for the job, he’s taken a step forward as a playcaller, the Cardinals have improved each and every year wins and offensively under Kliff Kingsbury. But also the loss is unacceptable."
Tune into Wednesday's Locked On Cardinals podcast to hear Clancy and Brack continue the debate and talk about other challenges facing the Cardinals apart from Clancy's views on Kingsbury.
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