The vitriol of an Arizona Cardinals fanbase tortured by a franchise-worst 3-14 record is not lost on owner Michael Bidwill and GM Monti Ossenfort.
On the Monday following Arizona’s Week 18 loss to the Los Angeles Rams — ominously and fittingly dubbed “Black Monday” — the perhaps-inevitable news broke. Jonathan Gannon has been fired as the head coach of the Cardinals. Ossenfort will be retained, with the responsibility of finding a new head coach.
It’s a decision fans have been clamoring to see. There had been conflicting reports swirling, but nothing concrete. Even in the midst of a brutally-underwhelming season, it did feel as if there was a significant chance Gannon’s job was safe, as media pundits pointed to injuries, tough opponents and some measure of bad luck.
But ultimately, the NFL is a business built on wins and losses. To not acknowledge that would be a disservice to fans — both Bidwill and Ossenfort know that.
Bidwill, Ossenfort Discuss Firing Jonathan Gannon
“We’re so appreciative of what [Gannon] put into this organization,” Bidwill said as he sat alongside Ossenfort to discuss the decision with reporters on Monday.
“He made us better, but I think as you all know, this is a league about wins and losses. The wins and losses speak for themselves, especially this year. We just felt like we were going in the wrong direction and we needed to change course. … We’ve won one game since week two of the NFL season and it just felt like it had gotten too far and it was just time to go in a different direction.”
“We want to win. This was a decision that was based solely off winning,” Bidwill said. “I know our fans are frustrated. I am more frustrated. I know Monti is more frustrated. Every one of those coaches and players, we all expected more.”
It’s not as if there weren’t both tangible and intangible improvements during Gannon’s tenure. To argue the team did not become vastly better between 2023 and 2024 would simply be dishonest. When Gannon was hired alongside Ossenfort, the idea was to rebuild the Cardinals’ culture above all else, and construct the roster from the ground up.
Step one was completed; adults were in charge again. The players bought into Gannon’s culture, even going as far as to give him an “A” grade in an NFLPA report card otherwise littered with failing marks.
But the priority — as it should — quickly turned away from the intangibles, and toward the win-loss column. That step is where the Cardinals got stuck. Gannon will end his tenure in the Valley with a 15-36 record in three losing seasons and a 3-15 record against the vaunted NFC West.
But it’s still a tough decision to make when a coach is respected and beloved on a personal level by both players and those making the decision to part ways.
“There’s there’s not a guy that I respect more than JG,” Ossenfort said. “He and I came in together. What he did for the culture of this building, the culture of how our building operates on a day-to-day basis, the discipline, the accountability that he instilled in our players. … it’s night and day, that group, what that locker room looks like now from then.”
But something wasn’t working. There was talent on the roster, both in the form of young, drafted players and high-value veteran free agents. While the messaging surrounding the Cardinals’ struggles has been heavily linked to injuries, that is no longer a viable excuse to remain complacent.
“We got hit very hard [by injuries] this year. We did. And it’s hard to overcome that volume,” the GM said. “But… injuries are inevitable in the NFL season. And if you go back the end of last year and into the beginning of this year… the totality of the entire direction of the football operation just wasn’t going in the right direction.”
Ossenfort said the Cardinals will be looking for a “strong leader” in their new head coach.
“It’s creating accountability and dependability in the locker room. It’s creating advantages on the field, putting our players in a position to be successful. It’s developing young players,” he said.
As of now, the options are wide open. Regardless of who ultimately replaces Gannon come the end of the hiring cycle, it’s going to take some time to win back the fans that checked out during 2025’s brutality. An agonizing three-year rebuild ending in regression cannot be an acceptable, repeated outcome in the coming seasons.
“When I look at it, some of the changes that were made with other teams just a year or two years ago, those teams with new coaches from a year or two ago are now in the playoffs playing this weekend,” Bidwill said. “When I look at what other teams have done, and frankly, historically, we’ve done a quick turnaround in our not-too-distant past. I am looking forward to that. And I hope it’s going to be in the first year, not in the second year.”
“We have to get get going in the right direction to get us back on the winning side of things,” Ossenfort added. “Get our fans back fired up about what we’re doing, what we’re putting on the field.”
Many aspects of this Cardinals team will be different in 2026 and beyond: a new coaching staff, likely a new quarterback, and perhaps even a new approach to the idea of a “rebuild.” Those changes are a necessity.
The Cardinals play in the toughest division in football and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2021. They’ve only managed 11 playoff appearances in their 100-plus seasons of existence, and have won 10-plus games just five times since moving to Arizona in 1988.
The idea of this lengthy rebuild (and Gannon’s hiring) was to create a perennial contender — a process championed by the Detroit Lions in recent years. Rather than rely on patchwork, the plan was to create a solid, fundamentally-sound foundation. But it was clear those fundamentals had all but departed in 2025.
The Cardinals are not entering another complete teardown, necessarily. But they are, for all intents and purposes, now forced to start over once more.
The NFL is a tough business. Winning is hard. Cardinals fans deserve better.
