If you are a person who prays, former Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians needs your help. He is set to have open heart surgery on Friday, February 6, in Philadelphia, just two days before the Super Bowl.

He made the announcement on the “Today” show with Rob Gronkowski, who played for Arians with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arians and Gronk are featured on a Novartis Super Bowl commercial for this year’s big game regarding prostate cancer screening.

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Every year when NFL coaches are fired, Arians’ name comes up as a possible replacement. But the former Cardinals coach is now 73-years old and has had plenty of health issues. He survived prostate cancer in 2007 when he was the OC of the Pittsburgh Steelers. While head coach for Arizona in 2013, Arians had cancerous cells in his nose removed. Three years later, he was hospitalized twice. The first was during the preseason due to diverticulitis. Then, in the middle of the season, he experienced chest pains. During the same season, renal cell carcinoma was found on Arians’ kidney to which he had surgery to remove a portion of his kidney.

Today, Arians is semi-retired and is semi-employed with Tampa Bay as a senior football consultant. His part-time job duties include attending meetings on a daily basis and watching practices, then giving advice as needed.

His coaching career spanned 46 years, during which he worked for four college programs and seven NFL clubs. Arians was the head coach with several teams: Temple University (1983-1988), Indianapolis Colts (2012, interim), Cardinals (2013-2017), and Buccaneers (2019-2021).

In 2020, the Bucs went 11-5-0 and defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV with Tom Brady as their new quarterback. With that game, Arians holds the record for the oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl at age 68. He also won a pair of Super Bowl rings with the Steelers. He was the team’s WR coach in Super Bowl XL and its OC in Super Bowl XLIII.

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In 2015, Arizona won the NFC West Division with a sterling 13-3-0 record, then defeated the Green Bay Packers 26-20 in overtime in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, but lost to the Carolina Panthers 49-15 in the NFC Championship Game.

Arians was named NFL Coach of the Year in 2012 (Colts) and 2014 (Cardinals). He went 49-30-1 during his five seasons as head coach of the Cardinals.