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Offseason in three or fewer words: Stop the slide

The Cardinals need to figure out how to avoid another second-half collapse next season, so that should be the primary focus of their offseason. If that means tearing everything philosophically down to the studs and rebuilding, so be it. If that means trashing every offseason, preseason and weekly plan to start fresh with new ones, so be it. Besides free agency and the draft, the Cardinals' focus should be on nothing but figuring out how to play a full season of competitive football, which would allow them to play deep into the playoffs. That's it. -- Josh Weinfuss

The season ended with an ugly fade culminating in an embarrassing no-show against the Rams in the playoffs. And as Los Angeles surged to a Super Bowl title, Arizona was left to do damage control after Kyler Murray deleted any trace of the Cardinals from his social media accounts -- a well-worn offseason trope that typically signals discontent for a star. Then came a damning Super Bowl morning report from ESPN in which unnamed sources labeled the former No. 1 pick as "self-centered, immature and [a] finger pointer," along with a report by NFL Network's Mike Garafolo that the team wanted Murray to work on his maturity and leadership skills. Given the apparent state of relations between QB -- who has since issued a statement decrying "nonsense" -- and team, don't rule out the possibility of Murray becoming a major figure of intrigue on the trade market.

The Kyler Murray situation bears watching as he might not be a happy Cardinals player. It could just be about a new contract, but this is a big year for him and coach Kliff Kingsbury.

For a quarterback who hasn't played in a month -- and apparently didn't feel like playing at the end of his last game -- Kyler Murray sure has been in the news a lot ... and not for reasons that lead anyone to believe these Cards will take flight.

The Cardinals, who spent a chunk of the regular season atop these very rankings, were embarrassed in the wild-card game by the eventual Super Bowl champion Rams. Last week, quarterback Kyler Murray scrubbed his Instagram of all references to the Cardinals, and anonymous sources told ESPN that Murray's teammates don't believe he's a good leader. "Love me or hate me, I'm going to continue to grow and get better," Murray wrote on Instagram on Monday. What does it all mean? It will be a bumpy offseason in Arizona.