In distributing blame for Arizona Cardinals' woes, include team owner Michael Bidwill

Kent Somers, Arizona Republic

November 9, 2022 at 4:35 PM·4 min read

Sep 11, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals president Michael Bidwill honors his late father William V. Bidwill, the former owner of the Arizona Cardinals who was inducted into the Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony at State Farm Stadium.

Usually, it’s a good thing when a player or a team produces a moment that has us all saying, or tweeting, “I can’t believe that just happened.” It’s why we watch: to be entertained and occasionally amazed.

The Cardinals gave us one such moment this year. Unfortunately, it came in March, six months before the football season started. That’s when owner Michael Bidwill announced General Manager Steve Keim and coach Kliff Kingsbury had signed contract extensions through 2027.

It was a bad decision then, and with a 3-6 record, a quarterback who has regressed, personnel weaknesses that weren’t addressed and a coach who is overwhelmed, it looks even worse now.

Keim and Kingsbury are taking most of the heat for it, and outside of their families and agents, few people see a reason for their continued employment by the Cardinals.

Will Bidwill fire them? My guess is no, at least not now, just eight months after signing them to extensions, and not with NFL Films and HBO in town for “Hard Knocks In Season: The Arizona Cardinals,” a docuseries that debuts Wednesday night.

Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill and General Manager Steve Keim introduce new head coach Kliff Kingsbury during a news conference on Jan. 9, 2019 at the Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.

Over the years, Hard Knocks has shown what it’s like for a player to be summoned into the offices of the coach and general manager and told he’s been cut. We’ve never seen a coach or GM be on the receiving end of that news at midseason.

The thought of having cameras and microphones everywhere makes most coaches cringe. In 2015, the Cardinals staff wasn’t crazy about participating in “All or Nothing,” an NFL Films and Amazon collaboration. But Bidwill wanted to do it. He is sincerely proud of the organization, of the people in it, and of himself.

A functional organization and a winning team make the owner look good. We saw that in “All or Nothing,” because the Cardinals finished 13-3 and lost in the NFC Championship game.

Hard Knocks with be different because the Cardinals are different. And they're desperate. We saw that in a trailer that showed safety Budda Baker giving an impassioned speech about being tired of losing. Bleeped out were the “F” words Baker used as his teammates kneeled in front of him. When he was done, they held hands and prayed “Our Father….”

It was a unique intro to the Lord’s Prayer and made for good television. But it also highlighted that the Cardinals are in a much different place than in 2015, when cameras from NFL Films were last on campus.

The Cardinals haven't won a playoff game since. They failed to make the postseason from 2016 through 2020 and last season were embarrassed by the Rams in the first round.

Hot seat: Will Cardinals' Kliff Kingsbury be next NFL coach fired?

Oct 10, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim (left) and owner Michael Bidwill watch pre-game warmups before playing against the San Francisco 49ers at State Farm Stadium.

Owners don’t like to be embarrassed, but Bidwill not only got over it, he also rewarded Keim and Kingsbury for the steady improvement made the previous three years.

It was a foolish, needless move. Keim had a year remaining on his contract. Kingsbury had two. Together, they had produced one playoff appearance and zero postseason victories. Bidwill should have waited a year before he started handing out extensions. If he had, he wouldn’t be in the predicament he is now, with a team that has tunneled to the bottom of the NFC.

It’s like the Cardinals are in an escape room, and no one, especially Kingsbury, has a clue how to escape.

But this isn’t all on Kingsbury. Or Keim. It starts with Bidwill.

Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill, right, and Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee Jay Parry speak during a news conference for Super Bowl LVII at the Arizona Biltmore on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022.

He watched the Cardinals implode in the second half of 2021, losing five of their last six games. He endured the playoff embarrassment. And he still saw fit to extend the contracts of Keim and Kingsbury.

Then he presided over a free-agent period in which the Cardinals mostly stayed on the sideline.

Other teams with young and relatively cheap quarterbacks went all in, yet the Cardinals failed to adequately address the most basic needs, like a pass rusher, the offensive line and cornerback. Not one of their edge rushers currently has more than 1.5 sacks.

Keim deserves blame for that. Kingsbury deserves blame for a team that made the same mistakes in Week 9 as it did in Week 1. Both might ultimately pay for that with their jobs.

Bidwill won’t, because owning a team is hardly a hard knock life.

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @kentsomers. Hear Somers every Monday and Friday at 7:30 a.m. on The Drive with Jody Oehler on Fox Sports 910 AM.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals team owner Michael Bidwill should share blame for woes

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