If Arizona Cardinals cornerback Justin Bethel is looking for someone to sugarcoat what’s been a bad season, he should look away from coach Bruce Arians.
Darren Urban of Azcardinals.com quoted Arians, who was asked a question about Bethel’s progress.
Arians, asked if CB Justin Bethel was a work-in-progress: "Failure in progress."
— Darren Urban (@Cardschatter) December 12, 2016
This is blunt, which is unquestionably Arians’ style. It might be a little too blunt. As a coach, these are the players who have to play for you. Comments like this may not inspire the best efforts of those players, especially at the end of a massively disappointing season.
Also, while Bethel is having a poor season, his career before 2016 was stellar. Bethel made the Pro Bowl from 2013-15 and was a First-team All Pro in 2013 and 2015.
Much like the Cardinals, calling his 2016 season a failure is fair game. But extending beyond that is way out of bounds.