If Mike McCarthy is interested in the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job, there are two questions that have to be asked

The veteran head coach is said to be interested in the potential opening for the Cardinals.

There is a growing sense of who the Arizona Cardinals will bring in starting in January to fill what everyone expects to be their head coaching vacancy.

The first name attached is one of the biggest, according to multiple outlets, the Arizona Cardinals and Mike McCarthy have mutual interest in one another.

While this was reported on Christmas, merry Christmas Cardinals, I waited to think about it.

There are two main questions I have for the idea of McCarthy in Arizona.

1. Why Arizona?

McCarthy will without a doubt, barring John Harbaugh being let go by the Baltimore Ravens, the biggest and most successful name on the head coaching market. He’ll be the number one rehire with a bullet.

So, why interest in AZ? There’s clearly not a great amount of talent on the roster at this moment, they play in maybe the best division in football and they could be looking at a long and arduous rebuild.

My first thought on why is that it is the polar opposite of Green Bay.

No history, no expectations of a Super Bowl every year, no sentiment that your career and legacy is defined more by the ones you lost than the ones you won.

Green Bay offers bitter cold weather and burning hot expectations.

Cardinals fans are finishing off their construction of the monument to Bruce Arians after the Steve Wilks experience.

Arians won a single playoff game in five seasons.

McCarthy coached 13 seasons, had 10 playoff wins in 18 playoff games.

The Cardinals have seven playoff wins in their franchise history… in 16 career playoff games.

Needless to say, the change of scenery would be a welcomed one for McCarthy

2. Can he be the next Andy Reid?

Reid was ultra successful in Philadelphia, remember, Reid to Arizona was 95% done.

The idea then of Reid is similar to the idea now of McCarthy.

They’re instant credibility. They’re proven winners.

What interests me more than anything and the biggest issue I have with the idea of McCarthy as the next Arizona Cardinals head coach, is that his voice became stale to a great quarterback.

In fact, it’s believed that McCarthy was stale to not only Aaron Rodgers now, but Brett Favre before.

Reid was similar.

Could he adapt, could he grow?

The answer is unequivocally yes on Reid.

So, will McCarthy follow his footsteps? Will he be willing to make the necessary adjustments and adapations to a stagnant and lackluster offense, one that was being run by maybe the greatest quarterback of his generation?

McCarthy would no doubt be a boon for Josh Rosen in the short term, but as Blake wrote yesterday, this hire, even with McCarthy being 55, isn’t about a 2-3 year run.

It’s about a potential culture of winning, something the Cardinals have never had.

If McCarthy is willing to adapt, his age, even at 55, says he could go another 10-15 years.

If McCarthy just follows the same path as he did in Green Bay, 13 season, nine playoff appearances, 18 playoff games and 13 wins, he’ll rewrite every record in the Arizona Cardinals history book.

Of course, not having those expectations may be one of the reasons it’s an attractive job to him in the first place.

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