The Arizona Cardinals will be going in a different direction following a miserable 3-14 season. The team has fired head coach Jonathan Gannon. Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill cited the wrong direction the team was going in terms of wins and losses as the reason.
Bidwill ultimately retained general manager Monti Ossenfort, who will oversee the search for Gannon’s replacement. The Cardinals‘ owner gave his GM a vote of confidence, citing his ability to build the roster through the draft and smart free agency signings.
When a team makes a big change with their head coach and/or general manager, it will prompt a strong reaction from the local and national media alike.
Local Media Reaction to Jonathan Gannon’s Firing
News of Gannon’s firing came right as Wolf & Luke began on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Former Cardinals radio analyst Ron Wolfley was initially surprised by the news as it broke.
“I honestly thought he was safe,” said Wolfley. “But once again, you know my proclivity for understanding these kind of situations.”
“I don’t think it’s a total shock,” said co-host Luke Lapinski. “If you go back to their last two really miserable seasons. 2018, that season ends and they get rid of the head coach, Steve Wilks. They get rid of the quarterback they took in the first round, Josh Rosen. They bring in Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray. The 2022 season, they fired everybody. Kept Kyler, but fired everybody.”
As Lapinski pointed out, there was a past precedent for Bidwill to make changes after seasons like 2025.
Four hours later, Dave Burns and John Gambadoro further discussed Gannon’s ouster on Burns & Gambo. This was after the joint press conference between Bidwell and Ossenfort.
“Wins and losses,” said Burns. “If there was one clear, distinct message from Michael and Monti today, that was it. At the end of the day, there just weren’t enough of one and there were too many of the other, and they couldn’t justify keeping him.”
Gambadoro further laid into Gannon’s poor track record in his three years as the Cardinals’ head coach.
“Here’s the reality: the guy was 3-13 against the [NFC] West, 15-36 overall. He’s got one of the worst winning percentages (.294) of any coach. Firing him was justified.”
Gannon’s .294 winning percentage ranked 200th out of 207 head coaches with 50 games, according to The Ringer‘s Sheil Kapadia.
National Media Reacts to Gannon’s Firing
With the NFL regular season over, all eyes were on the Cardinals and their decision with Gannon. With the team firing their coach, it was going to send ripples through the national media.
“I was expecting it to happen during the season; they were in a full-out free fall,” said Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. “They started 2-0, then they started losing games by just points. All these close games.
“It just felt like as the losses continued, because eventually they weren’t close. They were blowouts. They were 1-14. Other than the Monday Night win over the Cowboys, they didn’t win a single game following their 2-0 start. They had never lost 14 games in the entire history of the franchise.”
“It wasn’t clear whether Jonathan Gannon would stay or go; you could make a case with either,” said CBS Sports’ analyst Jonathan Jones. “Times are tough there in Arizona; the injuries continued to mount at the worst possible positions. And his franchise quarterback that he signed up for wound up not being available toward the end of the season, whether you wanted to call that an injury or protecting the team from future guarantees.
“Ultimately, Jonathan Gannon and this season, they just looked terrible down the stretch. And ultimately, Michael Bidwill, the owner of the team, had enough.”
Jones adds that Gannon should be a defensive coordinator candidate at a number of places across the league.
Media Reacts to Cardinals Firing Jonathan Gannon