Mike LaFleur: If Cardinals job was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it

Mike LaFleur is the new head coach in Arizona, but he’s not new to life in the NFC West.

LaFleur spent the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Rams, so he’s very familiar with what he’ll be up against as he takes over in Arizona. The Seahawks and Rams played in the NFC Championship Game while the 49ers got knocked out of the playoffs in the divisional round, which leaves the Cardinals as the division’s only team to fall short of the postseason.

Their 3-14 record left them well short of qualifying for the tournament and they’ve only qualified once in the last 10 seasons, but LaFleur said he is undaunted by the charge to turn things around in his first head coaching gig.

“If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth it . . . Every year is a blank slate,” LaFleur said at a Tuesday press conference, via the team’s website. “I’m not worried about what our record was. The record last year, all that means is we have a higher draft pick. That’s all that really matters at that point. We have to go to work to build this roster. Even if we were flipped and it was 14-3, guess what? You go right back to work. I’m just concerned about building this staff and getting to work with these guys so that when the time does come, we’re putting our best foot forward to go win football games and hopefully update that back wall.”

The Patriots are in the Super Bowl a year after going 4-13, so it’s not impossible to imagine an NFL team taking a massive leap from one season to another. There are significant differences between the Patriots and the Cardinals, but Arizona is betting that LaFleur can at least start moving them where they want to go.