Mike LaFleur not ready to make changes at defensive coordinator, quarterback

TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals’ fourth-straight loss under head coach Mike LaFleur on Sunday was their worst yet of 2026.

And once again, a lot of that blame falls on the defense.

Trounced by former Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and the Detroit Lions offense throughout most of the game, Arizona watched a fourth consecutive team drop at least 30 on it.

If the calls for defensive coordinator Nick Rallis’ job weren’t already loud enough, Sunday provided megaphones to the masses.

LaFleur, however, doesn’t see a coaching change defensively or elsewhere as the right move to make as the losses pile up.

 

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“My job is to see the issues and handle the issues and have the tough conversations. If I felt like changes were needed for us to help win this week, then I’m going to do that. It’s my responsibility,” LaFleur said Monday.

“But I don’t think that gives us the best chance to win this week. I think the best thing to do right now is reevaluate what we’ve done and what we’ve done well, because there are some bright spots. But there’s also spots we’ve got to improve on.”

And just because LaFleur isn’t ready to pull the trigger on a Rallis firing, that doesn’t mean there can’t be tweaks made to the defensive personnel and scheme.

Despite the optics, LaFleur believes the Cardinals “have the right guys on defense to play better, but we got to help with them with that.”

He doubled down on that while on with Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo, saying he wants to give the defense an opportunity to fix things “the right way.”

Still, Arizona seems headed for a coaching change at DC sooner rather than later.

The Cardinals defense continues to give up 30 points per game like that is its job. Sunday’s 45-21 loss to the Lions only added insult to injury as Arizona’s worst game in the LaFleur era.

Even with the tweaks being made this week, can this unit really take the appropriate steps in the right direction before Rallis runs out of track?

I don’t think so. LaFleur does.

Arizona’s issues aren’t just on the defense, either.

The offense continues to have lengthy lulls after scoring off the jump. Is LaFleur properly adjusting after his scripted plays?

And what is up with the run game? You can almost see the smoke coming out of LaFleur’s ears with how upset he is with the ground game coming out of Sunday’s tilt.

The quarterback play has been questionable, too. Just how much longer can Arizona ride with Jacoby Brissett under center?

“When it’s going good, it’s going good and then it’s a three-and-out machine,” LaFleur said about the offense as a whole. “There’s really nowhere in between right now for us. We got to figure out how to do all the good stuff better.”

For those clamoring for Carson Beck or gearing up for Gardner Minshew II, it’s looking like at least another week of Brissett.

If anything, just having Beck active on game days would be a step in the right direction.

“You can only have so many people up (on game day). … It’s hard to put three quarterbacks up. Right now, Gardner (Minshew) is our backup,” LaFleur told Burns & Gambo.

For now, the waiting game continues on a handful of changes.

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