Mike LaFleur’s First-Year Expectations With Cardinals Aren’t About Wins

The promise Mike LaFleur brings to the Arizona Cardinals is real ahead of 2026, though expectations seem to be all over the place.

The Cardinals hit the reset button after a dismal 2025 season that initially held playoff potential. Arizona made massive changes at head coach/quarterback and are hoping to get fully healthy sooner as opposed to later thanks to some key injuries across the board.

LaFleur enters the desert with plenty of hype as an innovative offensive mind, though the first-time head coach surely has his work cut out for him.

What are the expectations around LaFleur's first season at the helm?

Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox says a 6-11 record would do the trick:

"Arizona didn't take major steps to revamp a defense that ranked 27th overall in 2025. However, they took steps to reload an offense that has been brimming with potential but lacking in results," wrote Knox.

"... With LaFleur bringing a creative offensive mind to the proverbial table, the Cardinals should be able to steal a few more games than they did a year ago."

The reality of LaFleur's first season? It won't be judged by wins and losses.

Doubling the team's win total from last season would be a massive step in the right direction, though given where Arizona's at in terms of product on the field and organizationally, holding LaFleur against those parameters wouldn't be wise.

The messaging has been clear from the start: LaFleur wants to build the Cardinals up the right way — not the fast way.

That doesn't include a short-sighted Year 1 stint and judging results based off how the first 17 games of LaFleur's tenure goes. Sure, Arizona can't afford to go 0-17, but progress will more so be measured away from the win-loss column. At least in 2026.

This year is all about laying the foundation. Success for teams like the 49ers and Rams — both of whom LaFleur was an understudy with — largely is predicated off their offensive mastermind coaches in Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.

2026 will be about implementing his scheme, figuring out what works and what doesn't while also earning his stripes as a head coach in this league. If the Cardinals look much more competent offensively with clear promise/hope for the future while passing the eye-test, that should matter more than the overall record when the dust settles.

Especially with potential of landing their future quarterback next offseason with a high draft pick, 2026 isn't the year for Cardinals fans to focus on wins.

Should next season fare better for Arizona? Assuming health goes their way, absolutely. Nobody wants to watch their team consistently lose on a weekly basis like the Cardinals did last season.

Yet the big picture won't be fully painted in one season.

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