How long does the goodwill of taking a historically bad
franchise to within 157 seconds of winning a championship
last?

That seems to be the question a lot of people are asking
when it comes to the job security of Arizona Cardinals’
head coach Ken Whisenhunt.

As the Cardinals prepare for a visit from the Pittsburgh
Steelers on Sunday, terms like “must win” and “hot seat”
are getting thrown around.

Now, do I think that Whisenhunt should be fearing for his
job? No I don’t. I mean no more than any other NFL coach
should be fearing for his.

But there are people on the other side of the fence on
this topic, including former Dallas Cowboys’ Vice
President of player personnel Gil Brandt, now a senior
analyst for NFL.com.

Brandt has nearly one-third of
the league’s coaches on his list of bosses in jeopardy of
losing their jobs, and Whisenhunt is on it as one of
the more surprising entries.

If Arizona continues to struggle offensively
and Kevin Kolb doesn’t play better, Whisenhunt might be in
trouble. The Cardinals are 1-4 in a weak division. It’s
never good when your starting quarterbacks says, players
“have to get more detail-oriented.”

I’m not going to pretend that the Cardinals’ 2011 season
hasn’t been a debacle. Four straight losses. A 1-4
record. Being humbled by a winless Vikings squad. Team
meetings to air out issues. Not good.

Not to mention that the San Francisco 49ers are off to a
surprising (okay, completely shocking) 5-1 start, and the
Cardinals have quite the hole to dig themselves out of.

But I’m also not going to pretend that all of this is Ken
Whisenhunt’s responsibility. Coaches coach. Players
play. There have been slip-ups by both groups.

But if we’re looking at a similar situation with the Cards
on October 20, 2012, we can revisit Gil Brandt’s column
and this topic of discussion.

Follow @Vincemarotta