Bruce Arians expected to step down as Cardinals coach

Divisional Round - Green Bay Packers v Arizona Cardinals
Bruce Arians is expected to announce his retirement after five seasons at the helm

Arizona Cardinals' head coach Bruce Arians is expected to announce his retirement from coaching Monday afternoon after over 42 years of coaching football. Arians, 65, has been a common household name in the NFL since 2012 when he became the interim coach for the Colts after Chuck Pagano's leukemia diagnosis.

Arians led the Colts to a 9-3 record during Pagano's absence. Those nine wins still remain the most by an interim coach in NFL history. After the 2012 season, Arians was a popular choice to fill any head coaching vacancies. Especially after becoming the first non-head coach to win the AP NFL Coach of the Year.

The Arizona Cardinals hired him almost immediately as the Colts' 2012 season concluded. Arians led the Cardinals to a 58-35-1 record as their head coach in his five seasons, holding the most wins by a single Cardinals coach.

The Cardinals past two seasons have been just about average as far as NFL teams go. After making the NFC Championship Game in 2015, Arians' Cardinals record was an average 15-16-1 over the past two seasons. No question being a drop off from the winning culture Arians' established in Glendale from previous years.

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Arians' health was also a major factor in his retirement announcement. Arians' revealed last season that he had a cancerous spot removed from his kidney in 2016 and there were two instances during that same season where he was rushed to the hospital for a variety of seasons, including chest pains after their week 11 matchup against the Bears.

Arians' coaching career started in 1975 as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech. His career grew far and wide, stopping at eleven different places around the way, and returning to some later on. He was named AP NFL Coach of the Year not only in 2012, but two years later in 2014.

Arians also has two Super Bowl rings as an Assistant Coach with the Steelers in Super Bowl XL when he was the wide receivers coach, and in Super Bowl XLIII, when he was the Steelers offensive coordinator. Arians' face will be greatly missed around the NFL, and congratulations on a great career, Mr. Arians. Sincerely, all of us.

Edited by Nived Zenith
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