Another season has slipped away from the Arizona Cardinals long before the playoff picture came into focus. At 3-11, the team once again finds itself staring at an offseason defined by frustration rather than optimism and plenty of questions about the biggest pieces throughout the organization.
Now in his third year at the helm, head coach Jonathan Gannon has overseen a 15-33 record, a stretch marked by inconsistency, stalled development, and a lack of tangible momentum.
With enough of a sample size to draw real conclusions, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Arizona’s current direction under Gannon is not working, and continuing down this path risks prolonging a cycle the franchise can no longer afford.
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The Cardinals Need To Pull The Plug On Jonathan Gannon
Gannon was hired after leading the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense to the Super Bowl. He was tasked with bringing that defensive leadership to Arizona. The results, however, have not translated to wins or strong units.
From 2023-2025, the Cardinals rank 29th in defensive EPA per play, and the defense has been unable to replicate the success Gannon envisioned, only ranking ahead of the Bengals, Panthers, and Commanders during that stretch.
Part of being a good head coach is hiring strong coordinators. Gannon elected to hire Drew Petzing as offensive coordinator, who has led the Cardinals to a respectable 17th in EPA per play from 2023-2025.
I like some of what Petzing has done, but there are real questions about his fit with the personnel. That disconnect has been clear for years and has not improved.
Gannon Has Lost His Team
Looking at this year in particular, the Cardinals’ season has been over for a while now. The team knows it. Other teams know it. The fans know it.
A clear sign of a team rallying behind its head coach is stringing together gritty wins and competing deep into games, even when the season is over and the playoffs are out of reach.
The Cardinals have done the opposite.
Games have been effectively over within the first 10 minutes, including a humiliating 40-20 loss to the Texans and a 45-16 bullying by division rival Los Angeles Rams in back-to-back weeks.
It’s been embarrassing. There’s no other way to put it.
A Failure To Get The Most Out Of Talent
These middling and disappointing results are especially frustrating because I’ve been a fan of many of the draft picks and free agent acquisitions from general manager Monti Ossenfort, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
Ossenfort isn’t free of blame, but I think he’s drafted well and shown good process in free agency, enough to earn another term with a new head coach. That said, this is still a results-driven league, and he has made his fair share of questionable moves as well.
But getting back to Gannon, his forte was supposed to be working with defensive talent like Garrett Williams, Max Melton, Calais Campbell, Will Johnson, Walter Nolen, Jordan Burch, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, and others acquired through both the draft and free agency.
Ossenfort has provided Gannon with unique skill sets and talent to succeed. There have been flashes of Gannon’s Fangio-like scheme coming to fruition — players flying around and corners thriving in match coverage — but there are simply too many inconsistencies across the board.
Gannon prefers a three-high safety shell that moves Budda Baker all over the field with the goal of limiting explosive plays. Baker has been fantastic, and there are games where the unit looks great.
The defense leans on match coverage, mostly three-man fronts, and a conservative blitz approach, sending extra rushers on just 23.38% of passing plays (per Sumer Sports). Quarterbacks are given different looks designed to confuse them. But offenses haven’t been overwhelmed; they’ve executed what they want and have had the Cardinals’ number for three years now across nearly every metric.
The overall theme remains the same: flashes without consistency. I was willing to let the experiment play out, but it’s now been three years, and there hasn’t been enough growth or development to keep living off flashes. At some point, proof is required.
Simply put, the Cardinals don’t look competitive. They look uninspired, and that’s been the case for quite some time.
Too Many Lingering Issues
There have also been strange handlings of key young players. Marvin Harrison Jr., a top-4 pick, has been inconsistent and has yet to form a true connection with Kyler Murray.
Then, there’s the entire debacle surrounding Murray’s year: a lingering foot injury, a stint on injured reserve, and the team shutting him down to focus on recovery for 2026.
Jacoby Brissett stepping in and executing Petzing’s system at a higher level, with the passing attack showing more cohesion, only raises more questions about Murray’s future.
All of these question marks fall on the person leading the team, whether it’s warranted or not.
To make matters worse, the Cardinals are 0-7 in one-score games this season. Gannon started his tenure 4-13, rallied to 8-9 in year two, began this year 2-0, and now sits at 3-11 in year three.
This constant up-and-down inconsistency cannot continue. Arizona has been the worst team in the division, and a 3-14 divisional record is unacceptable. Being the punching bag in your own division and consistently uncompetitive is not a winning formula.
The embarrassment has gone further. There are very few uplifting things to point to under Gannon’s tenure, including committing a franchise-high 17 penalties in a single game against the San Francisco 49ers and being fined for yelling and physically interacting with Emari Demercado after a fumble, followed by a public apology to the media.
Altogether, it’s been a strange year. Injuries to key players are real, but they don’t excuse losing the locker room, losing the fanbase, and consistently losing games. Gannon has done all three since arriving in Phoenix.
It’s time for Michael Bidwill to pull the plug and move on. Ossenfort’s future can be debated, but the Cardinals desperately need a new direction. It may even be easier to pair a new head coach with a new general manager and reset the vision entirely.