TEMPE – Taking the Arizona Cardinals coaching job is no easy task. The team has finished last in the NFC West division for three of the past four years, it has question marks at the quarterback position and it deals with arguably the toughest division in the NFL.
But that didn’t stop new coach Mike LaFleur from giving an optimistic outlook for why this team isn’t far off from competing.
“There are pieces here,” LaFleur said, before examining the 2025 season. “When you look at the fourth quarter, there were tight games. It’s about daily improvement, but they’re not far off. We ‘ll continue to provide for those pieces.”
LaFleur knows the challenge that lies ahead. He has spent seven years in the division, working as a passing game coordinator for the 49ers from 2017-2020, and the offensive coordinator for the Rams from 2023-2025.
“It’s a tough division,” LaFleur said. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth it and we know the work that we got in front of us.”
LaFleur becomes the 11th full-time head coach for the Cardinals since their arrival in the Valley in 1988. He already had an appreciation for the organization and community before he arrived.
“Six years ago, we got a call from the league saying that Santa Clara is shutting down,” LaFleur said, referring to the COVID pandemic. “Within about 24 hours, (owner) Michael Bidwill opened up his home (State Farm Stadium) and we made this our home for six weeks.”
Lafleur also noted the Cardinals’ willingness to open their doors during the Los Angeles fires, already envisioning a future in Arizona with his wife, Lauren.
“I got to walk around this building for three days,” LaFleur said. “I told Lauren about a year ago that I’m going to be the next head coach of the Arizona Cardinals one day.”
It was a slow hiring process for the Cardinals once again, making it the second straight go around where they were one of the last teams with a vacancy to hire a coach.
Bidwill said the process was exactly how they envisioned it.
“A lot of work went into this,” Bidwill said. “We told you it was going to be a thorough and lengthy search. We spent a lot of time not only looking at candidates, but also learning from each one as it gave us a free look into how each organization does their thing.”
Even with the long wait, LaFleur was a fan of how the Cardinals conducted their coaching search.
“You guys did it the right way,” LaFleur said. “You showed me how much you want to get this thing right. Now I’m not saying you got it right, but you ended up putting in the time, hard work and detailed process, so I really appreciate that.”
Cardinals general Monti Ossenfort acknowledged the long process, but reiterated that he had a positive outlook that LaFleur was going to be the guy.
“I think Mike was impressive from the start,” Ossenfort said. “When we went through this process, we knew it was going to be long and we knew it was going to be exhausting. The point of our process was to find the best fit for us.”
One of the big question marks for the Cardinals heading into the 2026 season is the quarterback position, as there remains doubt that Kyler Murray will return to the team, but LaFleur remained neutral on his stance for who’s going to be at the helm next year.
“I touched base with Kyler when I got this job,” LaFleur said. “I have a lot of respect for him as a player and he was never a fun challenge to go against.”
Even with a seemingly long road ahead, LaFleur doesn’t mind the pressure of taking over a team that finished 3-14 last season.
“This league is pressure,” LaFleur said. “Every year is a blank slate and I’m not worried about what our record was the year before. I’m just concerned about building this staff and working with these guys, so when the time does come, we’re putting our best foot forward to go win football games.”
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A New Era in the Desert: Arizona Cardinals introduce coach Mike LaFleur
Jared Figueroa, Cronkite News
February 3, 2026
TEMPE – Taking the Arizona Cardinals coaching job is no easy task. The team has finished last in the NFC West division for three of the past four years, it has question marks at the quarterback position and it deals with arguably the toughest division in the NFL.
But that didn’t stop new coach Mike LaFleur from giving an optimistic outlook for why this team isn’t far off from competing.
“There are pieces here,” LaFleur said, before examining the 2025 season. “When you look at the fourth quarter, there were tight games. It’s about daily improvement, but they’re not far off. We ‘ll continue to provide for those pieces.”
LaFleur knows the challenge that lies ahead. He has spent seven years in the division, working as a passing game coordinator for the 49ers from 2017-2020, and the offensive coordinator for the Rams from 2023-2025.
“It’s a tough division,” LaFleur said. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth it and we know the work that we got in front of us.”
LaFleur becomes the 11th full-time head coach for the Cardinals since their arrival in the Valley in 1988. He already had an appreciation for the organization and community before he arrived.
“Six years ago, we got a call from the league saying that Santa Clara is shutting down,” LaFleur said, referring to the COVID pandemic. “Within about 24 hours, (owner) Michael Bidwill opened up his home (State Farm Stadium) and we made this our home for six weeks.”
Lafleur also noted the Cardinals’ willingness to open their doors during the Los Angeles fires, already envisioning a future in Arizona with his wife, Lauren.
“I got to walk around this building for three days,” LaFleur said. “I told Lauren about a year ago that I’m going to be the next head coach of the Arizona Cardinals one day.”
It was a slow hiring process for the Cardinals once again, making it the second straight go around where they were one of the last teams with a vacancy to hire a coach.
Bidwill said the process was exactly how they envisioned it.
“A lot of work went into this,” Bidwill said. “We told you it was going to be a thorough and lengthy search. We spent a lot of time not only looking at candidates, but also learning from each one as it gave us a free look into how each organization does their thing.”
Even with the long wait, LaFleur was a fan of how the Cardinals conducted their coaching search.
“You guys did it the right way,” LaFleur said. “You showed me how much you want to get this thing right. Now I’m not saying you got it right, but you ended up putting in the time, hard work and detailed process, so I really appreciate that.”
Cardinals general Monti Ossenfort acknowledged the long process, but reiterated that he had a positive outlook that LaFleur was going to be the guy.
“I think Mike was impressive from the start,” Ossenfort said. “When we went through this process, we knew it was going to be long and we knew it was going to be exhausting. The point of our process was to find the best fit for us.”
One of the big question marks for the Cardinals heading into the 2026 season is the quarterback position, as there remains doubt that Kyler Murray will return to the team, but LaFleur remained neutral on his stance for who’s going to be at the helm next year.
“I touched base with Kyler when I got this job,” LaFleur said. “I have a lot of respect for him as a player and he was never a fun challenge to go against.”
Even with a seemingly long road ahead, LaFleur doesn’t mind the pressure of taking over a team that finished 3-14 last season.
“This league is pressure,” LaFleur said. “Every year is a blank slate and I’m not worried about what our record was the year before. I’m just concerned about building this staff and working with these guys, so when the time does come, we’re putting our best foot forward to go win football games.”
This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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