I took the other option. Mike Zimmer may be on one of the shorter leashes this season. If the Vikings come out flat and rip off 6 losses in 8 games... Zac Taylor should get a full year to actually implement his design. 2022 may be the break in or out year for him. Matt Nagy will get a pass all season thanks to drafting a high value rookie passer. It should get him at least through the midpoint or more of 2022. Vic Fangio is in a situation where they may make no changes regardless of outcome. The Broncos may be close to selling the franchise and simply pushing though a season that may already be viewed as a wash could be the easiest way to keep things from becoming a media spectacle while negotiating a price.
Its always a crapshoot calling these things but thanks for making the thread. I voted Zac Taylor but im gonna add a couple more that could easily go faster if things go sideways quickly. Taylor prob should get a full year but his offense is gonna need to click. There may be very little help from that Defense and if they go on a losing streak early who knows. 2 others i'd mention are McCarthy and Kingsbury. Last season was ugly as hell for the Cowboys, i actually wondered if McCarthy would be gone after one year but they hung it on Mike Nolan. Well that card has been played, the QB is back and in a weak division this team is gonna have to show something. Jerry does seem to have been surprisingly effusive about McCarthy in previous public comments so its possible fatty has already made it out of the friend zone. If not tho Jerry's patience could be short. I also wonder how short Kingsbury's leash is. We all know he's in a meat grinder of a division but ultimately thats just the lay of the land. GM still needs on field results. That Offense is loaded. I dunno what @Tim thinks about this but i often find myself wondering if Kingsbury's offense is underperforming. A lot of plays with them seem to descend into Murray running around and trying to make something happen. Who's fault is that, Murray's for bailing too soon? Or is the scheme not making it easy enough? The perceived answer to that prob affects this a lot. But i can't help feeling that one way or another Kingsbury needs wins this year.
I think year two was a solid step forward for Kyler Murray and I expect year 3 to be another move up. He's slotted into the top 3 all time pre-draft rankings for passers going back to 2012 and he hasn't disappointed so far. And the Cardinals will likely go as far as Murray can take them in a division where the next man up is going to have to rip his new status out of the cold dead hands of a division rival. That would mean that one of the three best teams in the NFL has to make way for the Cardinals, with the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks all being considered solid bets for post-season contention. If you go by the Vegas odds, the Rams and Niners are set at 10.5, followed by the Seahawks at 9.5, then the Cardinals at 8. That means Vegas is high enough on Arizona to put them within 2.5 games of a division title within the toughest division in the NFL. What's even crazier is that, theoretically, all 4 teams from that division could make the playoffs. However, the only guaranteed way to make it in is to win your division. That's not an easy road to hoe for the Cardinals. My guess on Kingsbury is that he is guaranteed to see out the 2021 season, which would leave him off of the list for this poll. For the future? If they miss the playoffs this season and fail to win 8 or more games, then it could be the end for him in the off-season. My gut tells me that he is building a good enough resume within the organization that they are willing to make moves to build the team up with him as the current leader, but also with an eye on keeping him going into what will likely be a wallet busting contract for Kyler Murray. If nothing else, so long as Murray continues to grow and Kliff doesn't drive the team over a cliff, the continuity factor at developing their long dreamed of franchise passer could get Kingsbury locked into the Cardinals future until at least the 2023 off-season.
8 wins is now a losing record. 17 game season, that might not be good enough. I think he needs to have a winning record at the least to keep his job.
