Throughout Kliff Kingsbury's tenure as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, the team was known for its late-season slumps.
The Cardinals, who have lost back-to-back-to-back games after previously being 6-4, seem to still have that cloud over their heads. One analyst believes QB Kyler Murray deserves criticism for it.
"Kyler love-bombed me for the first 10 weeks of the season."@Realrclark25 thinks it's difficult "to buy into the Arizona Cardinals" because of Kyler Murray's second half struggles 🤫 pic.twitter.com/5c3ExxlQu3
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 9, 2024
ESPN's Ryan Clark, who played 13 seasons in the NFL largely with the Pittsburgh Steelers, claims that Murray "love-bombed" him with false promise at the start of the year. He went on to mention that it's not the first time Murray's production has fallen off midseason, after doing the same in 2020.
ESPN then showed a graphic comparing Murray's stats while under pressure from Weeks 1-10 to his stats from the past three games, and they're not pretty. His completion percentage drops from 61 to 39 and his TD-INT ratio falls from 4-0 to 1-3.
In total, Murray has thrown five picks in his past three games with only three touchdowns. His average Passer Rating is 76.8, and he hasn't completed more than 70 percent of his passes in any of the three contests.
In the past, it was Kingsbury who took the blame for Murray's struggles down the stretch. It's worth noting Kingsbury, who is now the Washington Commanders' offensive coordinator, faced that same criticism again during a three-game Commanders skid before Washington beat the Tennessee Titans prior to its bye week.
Now, though, Murray must deal with the concerning narrative himself. He has played the Cardinals out of a playoff spot in recent weeks, and he must be better if Arizona has any chance to climb back into the fight for the NFC West title.
