Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals dropped their fourth game in five tries Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, yielding a comeback win for the home team.
This has Arizona at 4-8 on the season and completely out of the NFC Playoff race. The backdrop to this was a Murray interception on a fourth-and-one situation from the Cardinals' own 34-yard line midway through the second quarter. It led directly to a Chargers touchdown and a 14-10 Arizona deficit.
Following the game, Murray decided it made sense to throw head coach Kliff Kingsbury and the team’s scheme under the bus in talking with the media.
“Schematically, we’re kind f**ked,” Murray to reporters following Sunday’s ugly loss to the Chargers.
Murray also touched on Arizona’s inability to put the game away late while holding on to a narrow lead on the road.
“There is no excuse for our last three drives/ There’s no excuse. We got the players. There is no excuse not finishing that game on our terms, not having to put the defense out there,” Kyler Murray on Arizona’s late-game struggles. “They did their job. We don’t get a first down, we don’t run the clock.”
We’ve seen Murray take out his frustrations on his head coach multiple times this season. While he did not name Kingsbury directly, it doesn’t take a genius to realize who he was talking about.
These comments also come amid a report from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport indicating that the relationship between the two has been “tense.” The two reportedly spent the past two weeks talking through everything while focusing on communication. Obviously, that did not have an impact on Sunday’s outcome.
Moving forward, it remains to be seen whether this relationship can be salvaged. But from the Cardinals’ perspective, there’s likely no other option.
Murray inked a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension this past offseason. He’s locked in long-term. As for Kingsbury, he also received an extension ahead of the 2022 season.
While there’s a chance that Arizona eats the remainder of Kingsbury’s contract, it would be a bitter financial pill for the organization to swallow. As for Kyler Murray, he’s going to remain the face of the franchise despite some major struggles this season.
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