Why Bruce Arians is retiring as Arizona Cardinals head coach

Bruce Arians is calling it a career. The 65-year-old is expected to retire after five years as head coach of the Cardinals, he announced on Monday.

Arians was tearful as he made his announcement. “The tears you see are really tears of joy, and peace. I’ll miss the players. I’ll miss coming out of the locker room and hearing the national anthem.” He added, “But somehow, some way, I’m going to be in touch with the game.”

“There’s so many reasons for the decision, but family is the one,” he concluded.

The Cardinals tweeted their thanks to Arians:

The move isn’t a surprising one, with reports as soon as the day after Christmas saying Arians would agree to leave. But Arians, who was tired of all the speculation, quickly refuted those reports — saying they are “false news.”

”There will come a time and a place when we decide what we’re going to do,” Arians said, according to NFL.com. “I guess Larry [Fitzgerald] has put up with this for eight years so I guess I got to put up with it for one.”

Arizona finished with an 8-8 record in 2017, missing the playoffs for the second straight season. The Cardinals wanted to rebuild and will try to kickstart that process without Arians.

Why did the Cardinals and Bruce Arians agree to part ways? The Cardinals were considered Super Bowl contenders at one point during Arians’ five-year stint. However, Arizona went to the playoffs only two times, won the NFC West once and lost the NFC Championship in 2016. The franchise hasn’t been the same since, going 15-16-1 over the past two seasons.

The Cardinals finished with a top-five offense and defense in 2016 — but they struggled to close out games. And things didn’t get better for them in 2017. Quarterback Carson Palmer and running back David Johnson both landed on injured reserve, and the offense as a whole spiraled out of control. Arians had a good run in Arizona, but the Cardinals missed their window of opportunity to hoist a Vince Lombardi Trophy.

What’s next for Arians? Arians’ next career might in TV:

Arians could always change his mind and return to the NFL, but even if he doesn’t, he’s had a successful career. Before he was with the Cardinals, he was the Colts offensive coordinator in 2012 and then took over as the interim head coach while Chuck Pagano underwent cancer treatments and battled leukemia.

Arians led the Colts to an 11-5 record and trip to the playoffs. For his efforts, Arians took home the NFL Coach of the Year award.

If Arians never returns to the NFL, at least he entertained fans with his outspoken personality and colorful language.

What’s next for the Cardinals? Arizona had to find a coach who is willing to go through the process of rebuilding the team. The Cardinals came into the season with one of the oldest rosters in the NFL.

To make matters worse, Palmer and Fitzgerald have been dealing with retirement issues for a few years. And if they decided to retire, Arizona would have no choice but to kickstart its own rebuild.

Now that the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers are young and talented, the Cardinals have to keep up in the division by creating their own youth movement.

So far, the Cardinals have requested interviews with Vikings OC Pat Shurmur, Eagles QB coach John DeFilippo, Eagles DC Jim Schwartz, and Patriots DC Matt Patricia.