Why Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury is good for the Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks face the Arizona Cardinals twice a year. Lucky for Seattle, the Cardinals are coached by Kliff Kingsbury.

If you thought this article was going to be about how the Seahawks should hire Kliff Kingsbury, oh no. Seattle might need a head coach soon as Pete Carroll is 70 years old but once Carroll steps down, he won’t be replaced by Kingsbury.

One reason is that the Cardinals somehow thought it was wise to extend Kingsbury’s contract this offseason and now he is set to coach in Arizona through 2027. But was it wise to extend Kingsbury really?

Fortunately, 12s don’t have to watch the Seahawks play a well-coached team in the Cardinals that play well as the season wears on. One of the marks of a good coach is that that coach’s teams get better from the beginning to the end of seasons. Kingsbury, however, seems to do the opposite.

Seahawks should be thankful Kliff Kingsbury coaches in the NFC West

Seattle seemingly seems to go 1-1 against the Cardinals every season and this extends back to when Bruce Arians was the coach in Arizona. But in the last two seasons, Seattle has won the final of the two games played each year. And this doesn’t just go for Seattle against the Cardinals. It goes for most teams.

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See, Kingsbury’s teams start each year well for the most part. Then they tank. A coach that can’t win in the second half of seasons shouldn’t be coaching. If it happens every once in a year, fine. But every year?

This is why the Seahawks should be happy Kingsbury’s contract was extended. As long as he is the coach in Arizona, Seattle has a better chance to win its division. Arizona was loaded last season but Kingsbury seems to have the ability to get the least out of his talent when it really matters.

Plus, he hasn’t made Kyler Murray into a top-tier quarterback. Murray plays erratically at times (many times in the second half of seasons) and his coach doesn’t seem to know how to fix the situation.

Kingsbury also doesn’t seem to know how to control the locker rook well enough as Murray’s disappointment over his own contract status has made a mess of the Cardinals offseason.

So, maybe the Seahawks aren’t great in 2022 because they are rebuilding. But in 2023 the team should be better and with the help of Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona, the Seahawks might just get a late-season victory they need next year that puts them in a position to make the postseason.