The Arizona Cardinals are 1-4 following their 45-21 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. They have lost all four games since Week 1 and have allowed over 30 points in all of them. They allowed 31 unanswered points to the Lions and, dating back to their nine-game losing streak to close last season, they have given up over 30 points in 10 of their last 14 games.
Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis has been the common denominator.
Despite the struggles, no changes will be made. Head coach Mike LaFleur, when asked whether play-calling duties or assignments on offense or defense would change, answered simply, “No.”
He himself is the offensive playcaller. Rallis calls the defense.
Find Your Qualified Amazon Prime Trial
Select your category below to unlock your specific free trial and discounted membership rate:
Prime for Young Adults
Included with Prime for Young Adults:
- Fast, Free Delivery: Unlimited Same-Day, One-Day, and Two-Day Delivery on millions of items.
- Unlimited Streaming: Prime Video with award-winning Originals, movies, and live sports.
- $0 Food Delivery Fees: Free Grubhub+ membership included (save ~$120/year).
Amazon Prime (Standard)
Included with Amazon Prime:
- Fast, Free Delivery: Unlimited Same-Day, One-Day, and Two-Day shipping options.
- Instant Entertainment: Award-winning TV shows, movies, music, and photo storage.
- Full Access to Alexa+: AI assistant for entertainment, deals, and smart home tracking.
Amazon Prime Access
- Full Prime Benefits: Free shipping, Prime Video, and exclusive shopping deals.
- No Long-Term Commitment: Cancel or pause membership anytime.
This was one day after he was asked about his confidence level in Rallis. “I’m not worried about any confidence or anything like that,” LaFleur said postgame. “I have a lot to fix, so I’m going to leave it at that.”
LaFleur was asked about potential changes on Sunday after the game, and he said he “respect(ed) the question.” But his response was, “Right now my focus is me fixing everything and talking to these players, talking to these coaches and figuring out how this never ever happens again as long as I’m here.”
For Cardinals fans, this has to be frustrating. Last year’s defense was bad. They retained Rallis when they could have gone a different direction. They even supposedly offered Gus Bradley the job and Bradley chose to follow Robert Saleh to Tennessee.
The defense was bad before. Rallis felt like a holdover because they couldn’t get anyone else. They made no significant changes to the personnel in the offseason, and now it is bad again.
There was some optimism after Week 1 and the win over the LA Chargers, but that Chargers team is now 0-5 and has the third-lowest-scoring offense in the league. The Cardinals’ defensive play in that game no longer looks impressive.
But what can the Cardinals do? They installed Rallis’ defense. LaFleur could move playcalling duties to Teryl Austin or Nick Kwiatkowski, both of whom have been defensive coordinators in college or the pros before, but then that would require working within the same framework.
They could simply fire Rallis, but then the new DC would either have to work with the same defense and call it differently or try to install something new on the fly.
And the bye week isn’t until week 14, so the season will be lost if they wait that long to make changes.
However, the season feels lost already and the Cardinals are getting embarrassed. Leaving things the same doesn’t make sense, and firing someone after five games feels like a move out of desperation, which is a bad signal to send to the players.
Change needs to happen, but it appears none is coming, at least right now.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Arizona Cardinals not making coaching, play-calling changes after loss