The Arizona Cardinals put together a convincing victory in Mike LaFleur’s head coaching debut. With a 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, LaFleur became the first non-interim head coach to win in his Cardinals debut since Don Coryell in 1973, per Cardinals team reporter Darren Urban.
An all-around solid 26-14 win in LA against the Chargers.
They wanted to ignore the noise. So they did.
To further illustrate how far that was, the Cardinals were in St. Louis when Coryell was coaching them. It’s a streak that survived Ken Whisenhunt and Bruce Arians, arguably the most successful coaches in franchise history since moving to Arizona in 1988.
The Cardinals still face a tough schedule moving forward, but it’s the type of win that gives the team and its fans some hope.
Cardinals Dominate Chargers in Mike LaFleur’s NFL Head Coaching Debut
More impressive was not only the win, but how they got there. They played like a well-coached team, which speaks a lot to the early impact Mike LaFleur has made.
The Cardinals played four solid quarters of football together, never trailing for a single second. They minimized mistakes and made big plays on offense, defense, and special teams. Arizona scored a point in all four quarters.
The Cardinals’ defense forced two turnovers and made a massive goal-line stand at the end of the first half. The offense moved the ball at will all game long and didn’t turn the ball over, although Jacoby Brissett had an ugly interception dropped. They even made a big play on special teams to cap off the three-phase domination.
“I felt like they played for the most part, and there’s a lot to clean up like there always is in Week 1, but for the most part, I thought we, in all phases, played good football,” said LaFleur in his postgame presser streamed by the team on X.
But perhaps the most satisfying moment came in the fourth quarter. All three phases contributed to a moment that allowed the Cardinals to ice the game.
Jordan Burch picked up a big sack of Justin Herbert on third down to force a punt. Simi Fehoko blocked J.K. Scott’s punt, setting up Arizona on the Chargers’ three-yard line. Brissett found All-Pro tight end Trey McBride in the end zone two plays later.
From facing Herbert with just a two-point lead, that sequence of events completely flipped the game. In addition to LaFleur, coordinators Nick Rallis (defense) and Michael Ghobrial (special teams) deserve a share of the credit as well for this win. And more impressively, it came against a team that made the playoffs last season.
It’s a stark contrast to a Cardinals team that limped to a 3-14 finish. The team elected to change coaches, letting Jonathan Gannon go and hiring LaFleur. And the first test for the new head coach was aced with flying colors.
Mike LaFleur Ends Cardinals 53-Year Coaching Streak in Chargers Win