Steve Wilks Fired by Cardinals After 1 Season as Head Coach

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks is out after just one season as head coach.

The team confirmed Wilks' exit Monday after Ian Rapoport of NFL Network first reported the news.

Arizona hired Wilks in January following the retirement of Bruce Arians, and the team went an NFL-worst 3-13. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported prior to the team's Week 16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams that the Cardinals planned to part ways with Wilks.

The 49-year-old North Carolina native arrived at the Cardinals with more than two decades of coaching experience at the collegiate and NFL levels. He spent the previous six seasons with the Carolina Panthers, including three years as the assistant head coach to Ron Rivera.

His first stint as an NFL head coach—he previously led the Savannah State Tigers for one year in 1999—has failed to get going, though. The Cardinals lost their first four games and six of their first seven in what was a transitional year.

Under Wilks, the Cards ranked 32nd in total defense and 20th in total offense in 2018.

Changing quarterbacks from veteran Sam Bradford to rookie Josh Rosen, who the team selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft, didn't yield a spark from an offense that was expected to make at least some noise with David Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk.

The team's next appointment will be the third different head coach in the past three seasons.