Together Forever? Kingsbury-Murray Partnership Runs Deep

When it comes to relationships between head coach and quarterback, there's not many that go back as far as Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray.

The relationship between a head coach and their quarterback is a special one. The two are thought of as a dynamic duo such as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. 

That's the goal, at least, as the individual success of either mentor or passer is often tied to the other. Most great quarterbacks find themselves behind a great leader under the headset, while great coaches often find a terrific quarterback leading his game plan on the field. 

That goes for the Arizona Cardinals, as Kingsbury and Murray have embarked on a special journey together. 

Kingsbury fell in love with Murray's ability as a quarterback before he even stepped onto a college field, recruiting Murray to join his then Texas Tech Red Raiders. 

Murray opted for Texas A&M, where Kingsbury was an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for only one season (2013) prior to accepting his first head coaching job. 

Despite not ever coaching him in college, Kingsbury still drank the Murray Kool-Aid, even being spotted on video (still as a college coach) that if given the opportunity, Murray would be his No. 1 pick. 

Kingsbury spoke it into existence, landing a job with the Cardinals and eventually selecting Murray first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. 

"He kind of helped me out a little bit," joked Murray on Wednesday when asked about those comments. 

"He's always felt that way about my game, ever since high school, he came to visit me, always hit me up on Twitter, just recruiting me and stuff like that. So I always knew how he felt about my game."

Sitting at 8-2 in the third year of their tenure together in the NFL, Kingsbury says he's taking Murray over the rest of the league. 

"I'd rather have a tie to his (game) than about 99% of the quarterbacks in the NFL," Kingsbury said Wednesday. 

"So I just have always thought his upside, his top, top, is as good as anybody I've ever seen. And so it's been fun to work with him and try to figure this thing out."

Kingsbury has been open with the media about how hard-headed Murray can be at times, although it's in a good/competitive nature. Taking an unexpected turn at his Wednesday press conference, Kingsbury laid out some astrology facts for everybody.

"We butt heads. I mean, we're both Leos. And super competitive. So we'll butt heads," Kingsbury said. (For more of a deep dive on Kliff's astrology, click here.)

"And I think that kind of has us go at each other at times, but we both know it's from a great place. And like I said at the end of the day, he knows I'm tied to him. He knows that we're tied together. We just got to find a way to get it done. And we both approach it from that that aspect."

Kingsbury equated his relationship with Murray to that of an actor and director in terms of their communication. 

He said, "It's really just an understanding of what each one of us is about. I think he knows, when I get pissed, it's not about a mistake he made, it's about, 'Hey, I want to be successful' and I know when he's mad and going through it that he wants to be the best.

"And so we understand where we're coming from. I've always treated him more like, I guess a director and an actor. I mean, I'm not talking down to him. We're talking on the same level, I want to hear his thoughts. I want to get it from him. 

"Because we're in this thing together, we signed up together. And as much as any duo ever, probably in the history of the NFL, the way this thing is played out. So we know we're tied to each other forever. And we just want to make this thing work."

The success of Murray has largely been attributed to Kingsbury, and vice-versa when it comes to Kingsbury's body of work thus far.

Through the third chapter of their series with Murray and Kingsbury, things have gone fairly well on and off the screen. Will this movie see the ending everybody in Arizona has been waiting for? 

Only time will tell. Yet for the duo that is Kingsbury-Murray, the two have laid quite the foundation for a successful partnership that could span deep into the future.