It's black and white: Cardinals' Gannon needs one more win to avoid Wilks comparison

In sports, we keep records, making it possible to compare highs and lows from one era to the next.

With that being the case, Arizona Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon needs to win at least one more game to help the franchise avoid yet another offseason of embarrassment for team president Michael Bidwill.

Bidwill and the Cardinals are named in a pair of legal disputes, alleging double-standards and unequal treatment of minority employees, including former coach Steve Wilks.

Former team executive Terry McDonough says Bidwill presided over a hostile work environment, rife with racial bullying. Wilks, meanwhile, joined a class action lawsuit against the NFL, saying teams don’t provide meaningful opportunities for Black head coaches.

Bidwill has defended himself against the claims, calling McDonough’s arbitration case outlandish and saying Wilks’ claims are untrue. Neither case is resolved.

Wilks was hired ahead of the 2018 season. There’s no reason to believe that the people around him knew what they were doing.

His offensive coordinator, Mike McCoy, was fresh off a string of failures with the Chargers and Broncos. The year before he was hired in Arizona, McCoy had been fired after just 10 games in Denver. As Chargers head coach, McCoy was dismissed after presiding over consecutive seasons of double-digit losses.

Wilks’ defensive coordinator, Al Holcomb, had never held that position before and was trying to turn a 3-4 base defense into a 4-3.

Making matters worse, early in training camp veteran Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim was suspended after an extreme DUI arrest.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, Wilks was saddled with a journeyman quarterback who lacked arm strength in Sam Bradford, and a rookie who lacked the ability to read NFL defenses in Josh Rosen.

It was a minor miracle that Wilks won three games.

Gannon, meanwhile, has a pair of coordinators who use innovation and enthusiasm in place of experience in Drew Petzing and Nick Rallis.

And his general manager, Monti Ossenfort, has come across as a sober decision maker, adept at spotting young talent.

Gannon also has Kyler Murray, one of the league’s best quarterbacks who is 2-2 as a starter after coming off a career-threatening knee injury.

If Gannon ends the season without another win, there will be a chorus of critics, analysts and fans calling for his job, especially since Wilks technically will have had a better year. He was 3-13, but the NFL has expanded its schedule. If Gannon loses out, he’ll finish 3-14.

Gannon could shut all of this down with one or two more wins, but that doesn’t seem likely.

The Cardinals have the 49ers, Bears and Eagles on the schedule. San Francisco and Philadelphia are Super Bowl contenders. Chicago is just 4-8 but will have the advantage of playing at Soldier Field on Christmas Eve. They close the season at home against Seattle, 6-6.

Regardless, there will be room for subjectivity in evaluating Wilks vs. Gannon.

Under Wilks, the Cardinals played hard, but lacked much identity. I covered the team that season and have attributed the problems to a lack of talent, especially on offense.

Under Gannon, the Cardinals want to pound teams with running back James Conner and go deep with speedy wide receivers Hollywood Brown and Rondale Moore.

Defensively, they want to pressure opposing quarterbacks into mistakes.

This could be the wiggle room Gannon needs to keep his job, since Bidwill has said he fired Wilks because he didn’t like the coach’s plan for the team moving forward.

Still, there will be plenty of observers who can’t help but notice the way Wilks seemed doomed from the start, whereas Gannon has much more in his favor.

And that’s a comparison that’s as simple as black and white.

In recent years, the Cardinals have been criticized for making players pay for meals at the team facility, losing seasons, head-scratching coaching hires and a homework clause in Murray’s contract.

To avoid yet another offseason of embarrassment, Gannon needs to win at least one more game.

This is, after all, why we keep records.

Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @SayingMoore.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals' Jonathan Gannon needs a win to avoid Steve Wilks comparison