Last year was an awful one for the Arizona Cardinals that saw them bottom out as the worst franchise in football and compelled dramatic, major change to the organization.
But despite all the change, USA Today Sports believes the Cardinals will once again have the worst record in the NFL this upcoming season.
Now technically the Cardinals are one of five teams predicted to finish 3-13 on the season but the only one that would make it back to back years with such a putrid record.
Are they going to be right?
I believe Kliff Kingsbury is the least qualified head coach hired in modern NFL history but he HAS to be better offensively than the Wilks/McCoy combo last year that nearly set offensive football back 10 years.
I also believe Kyler Murray is a really, really exciting QB prospect but the doubts about his size and questions about his NFL transition are real.
I also believe that while Steve Keim improved the roster over the offseason in free agency and the draft, it's still one of the thinnest rosters in the NFL. There is a lack of quality depth virtually everywhere on the roster but RB.
But, I also believe the Cardinals are a mortal lock to win more games than they did last year.
Steve Wilks and Mike McCoy put their players in a position to fail. At a minimum, this year's coaching staff won't make that same mistake.
Even with a brutally backloaded schedule, the Cardinals can and likely will win at least 5 games this year barring an injury to Kyler Murray. Will it be good enough for Steve Keim to keep his job? To justify the hiring of Kingsbury? To justify the drafting of Kyler Murray?
We'll find out soon enough.