This Kliff Kingsbury Second Half Stat Should Terrify Cardinals Fans

The Arizona Cardinals were one of the betting favorites at WynnBET to win the Super Bowl just a few weeks ago. Now. after three straight losses, the Cardinals are 10-5, second in the NFC West and fifth in the NFC playoff race. While they did manage to clinch a spot in the playoffs, the Cardinals are barely hanging on and are in danger of a quick exit from the postseason. 

The Cardinals' collapse may have been a shock to many, but the numbers suggest that this was an inevitable outcome. Despite Kliff Kingsbury’s overall body of work this year, there's a long sample of the teams that he coaches being awful in the second half of the season. 

The doubts focused on Kingsbury started to mount when he was out-coached in every way by Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions in a blowout loss on the road back in Week 15. The Cardinals' electric offense was only able to muster up 12 points while allowing the Lions to torch them for 338 yards and 30 points. 

Let's take a look at Kingsbury's record in three seasons with the Cardinals.

In his debut year with Arizona, Kingsbury started the season with a 3-3-1 record in the first seven weeks. However, his team faltered down the stretch and finished the year 2-7. 2020 was more of the same. After a 5-2 start, the Cardinals finished the season 3-6. And we all know how this season is going. After a 7-0 start, Arizona is 3-5 in their last eight weeks. 

This stat is even more troublesome when you realize that it extends all the way back to 2013 when Kingsbury was coaching at Texas Tech. In a similar fashion as the 2021 Cards, the Red Raiders started 2013 with a 7-0 record. However, they followed that first half up with a 1-5 mark to finish the season. The best Kingsbury managed after week 7 during his tenure at Texas Tech was a 2-3 mark in 2016. The worst was an 0-5 mark in his last season there in 2018. 

When you combine his NCAAF and NFL marks in the first seven weeks, Kingsbury is 42-20-1. The rest of the year, however, sees his record dip to 16-43. After some quick math, we find that Kingsbury's win rate in the first seven games of the season is 67.46% but just 27.12% after Week 7. 

While these second half struggles make them an easy bet-against team in Week 17 against the Cowboys, it might not be that clear-cut. While Kingsbury can’t seem to buy a win down the stretch, his teams continue to win against the spread. This is especially true when playing as road underdogs as they are this week at Dallas. Via Matthew Friedman of FTN and Action Network, Kingsbury is 12-3-2 ATS as a road underdog in his NFL career. 

The Cowboys are currently 5.5 point favorites at WynnBET Sportsbook against the struggling Cardinals but Arizona is a perfect 5-0 ATS as a road dog this year. Last season they were 2-2 in such games and 5-1-2 in 2019.

While Dallas is in line to win this game, the Cardinals are a tempting bet to still cover away from home.