TAMPA, Fla. -- In what would be the curtain call to his short but stellar coaching tenure with the Arizona Cardinals, Bruce Arians stood at a podium on New Year's Eve 2017 -- nearly 1,500 miles from his home stadium -- and proclaimed, “Thank you all for coming to my house. Hope you get home safe.”
The Cardinals had just beaten the Seattle Seahawks 26-24 at CenturyLink Field, without quarterback Carson Palmer and running back David Johnson, to finish 8-8. Arians announced his retirement the following day, long before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lured him back into coaching in 2019.