Kliff Kingsbury defends controversial timeout, challenge calls in Cardinals' loss to 49ers

Jordan Heck

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Kliff Kingsbury defends controversial timeout, challenge calls in Cardinals' loss to 49ers image

The Cardinals lost, 28-25, to the 49ers Thursday night, and a moment right before the end of the first half ended up being crucial to the final score.

The 49ers had a fourth-and-goal situation, about one yard away from the end zone. Instead of kicking a short field goal, San Francisco decided to go for it. They called a run play and got stuffed at the line, but unfortunately for Arizona the turnover on downs didn't stand.

That's because Kliff Kingsbury, Arizona's rookie head coach, called a timeout. As fate would have it, the 49ers changed plays and threw the ball into the end zone for a touchdown — a dramatic swing in momentum right before the half due to Kingsbury's timeout.

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Kingsbury's decision was mocked by NFL fans shortly after it happened.

After the game, Kingsbury explained his thought process for calling the timeout.

“I wanted to get a Kodak timeout, one of those looks at it,” Kingsbury said. “Wanted them to hopefully burn their best play. They ran a play and it worked for us initially, but then obviously looking back on it, would have rather gotten that stop. Just didn't work out for us this time."

He was then asked if he thought the decision cost the team the win.

"I don't think it did," Kingsbury said. "I mean, we came out and played really well in the second half. I think our guys understand a decision [needed to be made] in that moment to win the game, and that one didn't work out for us and that's on me, but our guys continue to fight."

In hindsight, the timeout looks like a terrible call. But it's hard to criticize Kingsbury too much for this. If the 49ers easily ran the touchdown in and it gets called back due to the timeout, and then San Francisco throws an incompletion, people would be applauding Kingsbury for his great decision. It just didn't work out this time.

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“We’re not going to second-guess stuff that happened in the game,” Cardinals defensive lineman Corey Peters said of the first-half timeout, via ArizonaSports.com. “Our job is to stop them and we didn’t get it done.”

Kingsbury was also criticized for another decision late in the game. With 2:27 left in fourth quarter, Tevin Coleman ran for three yards on a third-and-3. There wasn't a conclusive angle that showed if he actually picked up the first down, which is what the call was on the field.

The key here, though, is Coleman stepped out of bounds, stopping the clock. Kingsbury challenged the play, lost it, and as a result lost his timeout when time was a huge factor. 

"It was tough, we thought his foot stepped out. I know it was a tough angle, but looking at the TV, thought he stepped out and thought the ball was short of the line to gain. And in that situation, we thought it was worth taking a shot," Kingsbury said about the challenge. "We thought it was worth it. To put them in a fourth-down situation where they have to make that decision and you can get the ball right there or punt it and get it back, we felt like we had to take that risk."

The challenge was worthy of more criticism than the goal-line timeout, as losing a timeout in that situation is extremely costly. The time stopped at 2:27 and if Kingsbury kept the timeout, he had two timeouts and the two-minute warning left. Instead, the 49ers were able to pick up another first down and end the game.

Arizona played well against an undefeated 49ers team, but in the end, those two moments really stand out in the loss. But as Kingsbury alluded to, the decisions just didn't work out. Had they gone the other way, he could easily be praised right now for handing San Francisco its first loss. 

Jordan Heck

Jordan Heck Photo

Jordan Heck is a Social Media Producer at Sporting News. Before working here, he was a Digital Content Producer at The Indianapolis Star. He graduated with a degree from Indiana University.