Only one team in the NFL went all 17 games without scoring at least 28 points this season: The Arizona Cardinals.
Even the Jets, Browns, Raiders, and Titans all had at least one game with 28 points, but the Cardinals didn’t top 27 in any single game this year and that’s despite a high-priced quarterback and using two top-10 picks on offense in the past three years. So Arizona turned to a familiar source of offensive turnaround for other teams in recent years:
The McVay coaching tree.
While Matt LaFleur, Zac Taylor, Kevin O’Connell, and Liam Coen have all had success as head coaches, perhaps none had a harder task than turning around the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals are at the bottom of the best division in football and they have no clear path to an answer at quarterback. Additionally, Mike LaFleur is probably the least regarded for Rams OC (Coen couldn’t get an interview after his lone season as OC and Taylor was never an OC, to be fair) and he needs to solve a riddle of a franchise that has made one Super Bowl appearance in the 60-year history of the Super Bowl.
And lost at least 13 games in three of the past four years.
But is it possible that within 2 years, which is a standard level of patience to get to the playoffs in the NFL these days, LaFleur’s Cardinals could challenge the other NFC West teams for first place? Or a good wild card spot?
Recent history
In the last 10 years, the Cardinals have one winning season and one playoff appearance, going 11-6 and losing to the Rams in the wild card round in 2021.
And 12 months later, the team fired head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
The Cardinals are coming off of a 3-14 season and they have the third pick in the draft. How they intend to use it is anyone’s guess, but there do not appear to be 3 (or even 2) good quarterback prospects in this class.
Kyler Murray
The team has gone through 7 seasons of the Kyler Murray era but many believe this will be the end of his run in the offseason. When asked about Murray’s future, LaFleur ducked the answer and said they would evaluate the entire roster.
It’s the type of answer that typically ends up in making a quarterback change.
The Cardinals will have to eat about $50 million in dead cap to release him but that’s not even that much by today’s standards. Arizona will still have almost $50 million to work with, according to OvertheCap, and be among the league-leaders in salary cap in 2027.
Jacoby Brissett is under contract for another season and although he’s just a bridge quarterback, he had 23 touchdowns and 8 interceptions in 2025 with a coaching staff that was getting fired.
How much will the Cardinals improve in 2026?
The big thing going in the Cardinals favor is the progress of offensive pieces like Trey McBride (possibly TE1 in the entire league), Michael Wilson (a clear WR1 when Brissett was the starter), and left tackle Paris Johnson, Jr.
There are still questions remaining about former top-5 pick Marvin Harrison, Jr., but that’s a piece that LaFleur can specifically tailor his offense to similar to Puka Nacua in L.A.. The talent is there for it.
We know LaFleur is probably going to tailor his offense around a running game like the Rams do under McVay, possibly more 12 and 13 personnel sets, meaning adding another tight end or two in the offseason.
The Cardinals ranked 32nd in rushing attempts, so getting that number into the top-10 ranking will be a LaFleur priority in 2026, I’m sure.
Cardinals draft pick
If the Cardinals draft an offensive lineman like Francis Mauigoa out of Miami, ranked as the top tackle (but he could move to guard) in the class, they could soon be talked about as the top offensive line in the division.
Or what if the Cardinals traded down a bit and selected running back Jermiyah Love out of Notre Dame?
Maybe defense is the way that Arizona goes, but hiring LaFleur at a time when the offense is so spectacularly unspectacular and knowing that you can now supercharge this team as they maximize the window for McBride, Harrison, and Wilson, why not continue to build the pieces around quarterback before you go get a quarterback?
Who is the next Cardinals QB?
Is this a team that is going to target a reclamation project like Tua Tagovailoa or Geno Smith? Maybe. Would LaFleur offer Jimmy Garoppolo the chance to start again after spending two years with him in L.A.? Maybe.
But are those options better than Brissett, who is already there? Or are they better options than Murray?
The smart thing to do for Arizona would be to build around a QB. The Seahawks hired a new head coach in 2024 and are in the Super Bowl in 2025 and they didn’t obsess over replacing Geno Smith right away. They waited and then landed Sam Darnold in free agency a year later.
LaFleur’s best bet would be to push the team to get the best players available, not to get tunnel vision for a quarterback. Historically, Arizona has rarely done what’s best for the team.
Can the Cardinals challenge the NFC West?
To do so in 2026 would be shocking, however it can’t be understated how good some of Arizona’s pieces are like McBride, Wilson, Johnson, Josh Sweat, Budda Baker, Mack Wilson, and Harrison. Part of the reason Jonathan Gannon was fired must have been that the Cardinals were way too talented to go 3-14.
Now they get a top-3 pick, a LAST PLACE SCHEDULE (can’t be understated), and they have a lot of money to spend even if they eat Kyler’s contract. With all the cap space they have in 2027, they can be HUGE spenders in 2026.
I think a reasonable prediction this early in the process would be 7 wins for the Cardinals in 2026.
They went 8-9 in 2024, they could do something like that again under LaFleur this year. That’s never really been the issue for Arizona: It’s when are they going to get over the hump?
The 49ers are headed for a potential disaster with their cap, their mounting injuries, and the age of their veteran stars. I would not be surprised if San Francisco finished in last place in 2026. However, they’ve proven to be able to reload quickly.
A lot will depend on how good of a job LaFleur does in hiring assistants (his first questionable decision is hiring Nathaniel Hackett as OC) and they reportedly wanted Gus Bradley as DC and lost him. Then how much hope does he inspire next year, being able to attract better free agents in 2027? Can he raise the confidence level in Arizona?
Will the Cardinals time their ascent just right, if Matthew Stafford ends up retiring between now and 2027?
There are possible avenues towards a successful future in Arizona for LaFleur. But in taking a job with one of the least successful franchises in American team pro sports, LaFleur didn’t do make it easy on himself. He took the one job he was offered, and now the tall task is up to both sides to prove that they’re better than we think they are.
See More:
