On New Year’s Day Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians announced his retirement. Earlier in the day, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the decision on Twitter, leaving the official announcement as more of a formality. Hours later, the team and Arians announced the decision. Arians ended his time with the Cardinals as the leader in coaching victories and a record of 49-30-1. The victory over Seattle gave Arians a 4-1 record on the road against the Seahawks.

Cardinals’ HC Bruce is expected to retire from coaching, per league sources. Leaving the game on his terms. Another HC vacancy expected. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 1, 2018

Arians spoke of his decision for media on Monday in a tearful press conference. With tears in his eyes Arians asserted that the “tears you see are really tears of joy, peace,” adding “I’ll miss the players. I’ll miss coming out of the locker room, hearing the national anthem because it still gets me.” When pushed on when he knew of desire to step away from the game, Arians stated that he “probably truly didn’t know until that [Walsh missed field goal] went through that I was going to retire.”

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Arians announcement on Monday ended weeks of speculation as to the future of the enigmatic head coach. As it became obvious the season would end without a playoff berth, rumors began to circulate regarding the coach’s future. Arians had previously passed on questions about his future and chose to focus on the games ahead. However, in the hours leading up to the season finale, multiple reports came out stating that Arians was retiring. Cardinals fans had hoped it would not come to fruition but seemed resigned on social media that it was inevitable.

Arians’ tenure ended with two playoff births, the franchise record for most coaching wins, and best win percentages since the team was located in Chicago. The 2017 season ended with a thrilling victory in Seattle against the rival Seahawks. Arians welcomed reporters to his post game news conference by saying “thank you all for coming to my house.” On Monday it was everyone involved with the Cardinals saying thank you to a tremendous coach.

– Ryan Adverderada is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage Cardinals. Like and follow on Follow @ryanadverderada Follow @Cardinals and Facebook.