“I blame Kyler Murray for Kliff Kingsbury being fired,” Emmanuel Acho says it was Murray’s abysmal performance that got the Cardinals’ HC fired
The Cardinals' management had extended Kingsbury's contract last year for his stay till 2027.
Follow Us
Kliff Kingsbury, Emmanuel Acho, and Kyler Murray (Image via The Guardian, The Comeback, and Yahoo Sports!)
Kliff Kingsbury falls victim to NFL’s Black Monday after the regular season ended. Arizona Cardinals parted ways with Kingsbury along with general manager Steve Keim after what can be described as one of the worst seasons in the league.
The Cardinals went 4-13 this year and were in the headlines for many unwelcomed reasons. Quarterback Kyler Murray fell victim to yet another injury and the team just couldn’t win games this season.
Kingsbury joined the Cardinals as the head coach in 2019 after coaching future Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech. Being a quarterback himself, it seemed like the Kingsbury-Murray combo would hit it off and become unstoppable, but nothing of the sort happened which led to his departure from Arizona.
Related: Buffalo Bills DB Damar Hamlin discharged from the hospital and is back home
Kliff Kingsbury finishes his tenure with a losing record
Former NFL linebacker turned analyst Emmanuel Acho was pretty angry with the news of the Cardinals firing Kliff Kingsbury. He blamed the team’s GM and quarterback for their abysmal performance this season. “I blame Steve Keim for Kliff Kingsbury being hired, but I blame Kyler Murray for Kliff Kingsbury being fired,” Acho said on the talk show Speak.
The best ability is availability – Kyler Murray. They started off 7-2 last year; he got hurt. He began to be gone; they began to lose. Acho began his monologue by saying, “This year they were already bad and then Kyler Murray gets hurt once again and they began to lose. We are talking about the Cardinals not having an identity and to some degree I agree with that.” He went on to add that Murray had a giant ego and a pompous arrogance about him. According to him, the Cardinals don’t have an identity because their quarterback doesn’t have an identity.
Acho had also expressed his disdain for Murray a couple of months back after the quarterback said a lewd comment about the team’s performance. “Kyler Murray maybe it’s not the Cardinals, maybe it’s you. Dating back to everybody questioning whether you’re actually committed to playing the game of football or you’re committed to the game of Call of Duty. Maybe it’s not the Cardinals, Kyler, maybe it is you,” Acho said.
Just last year, Kliff Kingsbury had a multi-million dollar contract extension that would keep him with the Cardinals through 2027. While the details of the contract were never made public, it was estimated that Kingsbury would receive around $5.5 million per year. During his 4-year stint in Arizona, he helped turn one of the worst teams in the league into a postseason appearance within his first year. He will end his career with the Cardinals with a 28-37-1 record.
Kliff Kingsbury has added his name to the long list of head coaches that have been fired under six years of their tenure with the Arizona Cardinals. Over its 100-year-old existence, the team has never had the same coach for more than six years. With the entire team underperforming, the Cardinals’ front office cannot blame Kingsbury alone and fire him.
Kyler Murray’s somewhat childish attitude needs to be changed, and he has to be consistent throughout the year along with every other player on the team. With the head coach position being vacant, it’ll be interesting to see who the club hires as Kingsbury’s replacement.
Do follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Subscribe to our Newsletter
/techfirstnow/media/agency_attachments/kATjCXskQdJKkXN0OuqW.png)