Texans and Cardinals Coaches Fired as N.F.L. Teams Review Staffing (Published 2023) (2024)

The Arizona Cardinals fired Kliff Kingsbury on Monday after four years at the helm of the team.

Kingsbury, who led the Cardinals to a 4-13 finish this season, had been known for his work with college quarterbacks before his 2019 arrival in Arizona. That year, the team selected Kyler Murray with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The two men helped the team build into a playoff team last season. But the Cardinals came crashing to earth in 2022, with Murray and Kingsbury butting heads on the sideline and the team losing its final seven games of the season.

Kingsbury had agreed to a contract extension to 2027 in March. The job was his first in the N.F.L. after he found success as a head coach at Texas Tech. He finished with a 28-37-1 record in Arizona.

General Manager Steve Keim departed the Cardinals for health reasons, the team said.

Lovie Smith of the Houston Texans on Sunday was the first N.F.L. coach to be dismissed at the end of the regular season after the team limped to a 3-13-1 record, ending with a 32-31 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Smith was the second successive Texans head coach to be fired after just one season. The team fired David Culley a year ago, after a 4-13 season. Bill O’Brien, who coached the Texans from 2014 to 2020, was fired after leading the team to four playoff appearances.

“I’m confident we will find the right leader for our football team,” Cal McNair, the team's owner, said Sunday.

Before his stint with the Texans, Smith coached the Chicago Bears from 2004 to 2014, leading them to a Super Bowl appearance in the 2006 season. He led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015 and 2016, then coached the University of Illinois before returning to the N.F.L. as the Texans’ associate head coach and defensive coordinator under Culley.