The Arizona Cardinals will be the 10th team since the turn of the century to have a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback starting Week 1 of a season, making the assumption that No. 1 pick Kyler Murray will, in fact, be the Week 1 starter.
Of the previous nine, six teams improved on their win total the prior season. And the other three kept the same win total. So there is reason for optimism for the Cardinals.
John Buckley of Revenge of the Birds charted the change from the previous year.
All nine teams combined for a 41-103 record in the season prior to the arrival of their new coach and quarterback. With their new coach and QB, those teams combined to go 70-74, an average of nearly eight wins. That’s an improvement of more than three wins from the season prior. Four of those teams went to the playoffs, and three won 11 games.
This can give Cardinals fans hope for what could be in 2019 with Murray and Kliff Kingsbury. Based on the average, the Cardinals should win at least six games this season. A 6-10 mark is certainly not good, but it definitely would be an improvement on the disaster of 2018.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
