...Yikes.

After watching a 34-7 shellacking of the Arizona Cardinals by a Rams team that has now outscored the team in the last 3 years by 132 points...

I’m calling my shot.

I believe that we’re watching the end of the Steve Keim era in Arizona play out in front of us.

There’s no inside info, no deeper speculation, just the product on the field playing out in a way that removes doubt from the picture.

We’ve gone WELL past the Vance Joseph point of no return at this point. The Cardinals have 4 games left this season to show progress on defense...two versus a good Steelers team (with a backup QB) and a trifecta of Browns, Rams, Seahawks teams pushing for the playoffs.

And it won’t matter...he’s as good as gone because he is literally coaching himself off of the team at this point. His philosophy has led to bad tackles, missed communication and understanding and mind-boggling decisions like the one below:

Any defense of Joseph is pointed back at him not being able to run the defense he wants to run due to potentially a perceived lack of talent. In short, he’s got no choice but to point the finger back at the GM who gave him that talent.

GM blames DC.

DC blames GM.

Essentially, both are at fault, similar to the Hue Jackson/Todd Haley blamefest that turned into the Browns letting BOTH guys go in the resulting power struggle. And I think it’s trending that way in AZ.

The 2018 Cardinals in their downfall followed a pattern:

3 win team.

-Lose big with a poor showing vs. the run

-Offensive struggles w/ a rookie QB who turned the ball over

-Lack of playmakers stepping up

-Team responds by cutting a veteran defensive player

The case this season?

3 win team.

-Lose big w/ a poor showing vs. the pass

-Lack of playmakers stepping up

-Team responds by cutting a veteran defensive player

Yesterday was the first day since the dreadful opening 3 quarters vs. the Lions where the Cardinals showed major offensive struggles. Kliff Kingsbury had a bad day and there was no 4th quarter where the Lions took the pedal off of the gas to make a comeback.

In my opinion, the reason to fire a GM comes down to three things: lack of direction/vision, lack of talent scouting & ability, and off-field personal issues that interfere with ability to do your job.

Keim showed all three. And that was just coming into this season, frankly.

Part of the hate I think is more than just not winning with the GM: his off-field DUI is held over him by fans no matter what because it’s such a serious offense that if winning doesn’t follow; fans won’t forgive.

The Keim approach that worked was with him and Bruce Arians to build a veteran team w/cheap talent who had experience and a vision of the “no risk it, no biscuit” and “next man up” that pushed the team to compete every week. Keim excelled in that role.

He’s struggled the last 2-3 years to improve and retool that approach with a young, developing roster and it kinda just shows that he’s not really a dude who knows how to rebuild a roster.

Even this year—Keim chose to pay veterans like DJ Swearinger, Michael Crabtree and Terrell Suggs on cheaper deals and none of them have worked out to lead to wins.

And Michael Bidwill now will simply have to check social media to see what people are saying about his GM:

None of those tweets were positive, unfortunately...and it’s started to lead to a bit of a movement amongst fans.

Multiple major local sports personalities questioning Keim’s job security...

Multiple Profile pictures changing to this shot of Steve Keim that was shown during the game...

And even a change.org petition to fire the GM.

Does any of that matter? In a way I think it does...I called my shot to say that Keim will be gone because at this point the music is too loud.

And frankly, that’s almost a bit unfortunate but has to be expected due to the fact that competence exposes incompetence.

If Kliff Kingsbury was 3-8-1 and the Cardinals offense was 26th in the league, the defense was 26th and the team was showing issues but some progress, most people just see it as a rebuild that needs time with a rookie QB.

Instead, Kyler and Kliff propelling the Cards into an average overall offense and the defense falling to 32nd overall in the NFL in terms of total yards...kind of exposed the fact that the GM went “I can fix this” and it got worse following 2018.

It’s like Morton Salt: when it rains, it pours and Bidwill let Keim essentially double down on himself and his approach to turn the team around and...it got worse.

So to me it’s not an “If” Keim and Joseph will go. It’s WHEN.

And that when I think has just escalated to Black Monday being the only hope for fans hoping for a winning product with a truly fresh start for the organization that’s held onto the past and a magical 2015 season like it was the only thing that mattered...

Keim will go.

And the hope is that the Cardinals will become a team that starts to reward competence and not incompetence. And that’s all I’ve wanted from this season and all I’ve been saying.

And the music is loud enough now that even Michael Bidwill can’t ignore and his GM has left him with no choice.