Just seven games into his tenure with the team, the Arizona Cardinals have parted ways with offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.
The 46-year-old McCoy was hired by first-year Cardinals coach Steve Wilks on Jan. 25. He previously served as the head coach of the then-San Diego Chargers from 2013-16 and was the Denver Broncos' offensive coordinator in 2009-12 and 2017, but he was fired by the Broncos in Nov. 2017.
The Cardinals' decision to fire McCoy came just hours after the Broncos handed the Cardinals their worst home loss in 15 years, a 45-10 defeat on Thursday Night Football.
The Cardinals are averaging 220.7 yards and 13.1 points per game this season, the worst and second-worst marks, respectively, among all 32 NFL teams. They have an NFL-worst 1-6 record through seven games.
The Cardinals announced quarterbacks coach and former NFL QB Byron Leftwich will replace McCoy at the offensive coordinator position. Leftwich was being groomed for the OC position under previous head coach Bruce Arians, according to multiple reports.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported frustration within the Cardinals organization about McCoy's "lack of creativity" in his play calling, as well as his "inability to get David Johnson going" and "questions about how much he was putting on (rookie quarterback) Josh Rosen’s plate," led to the decision to go another direction.
"Going into last night’s game, players knew it was time," Rapoport said.
Here was the capper as to why Arizona fired Mike McCoy this morning: Cardinals’ QB Josh Rosen posted a 1.9 Total QBR vs. Broncos, the 2nd-worst by a starting quarterback this season. The only worse game was by Nathan Peterman in Week 1 (1.1 QBR).
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 19, 2018
