Cardinals interview Bevell, plan to talk to Arians

Bevell, 43, was interviewed on Wednesday at Cardinals headquarters. He was the fifth known candidate to interview for the job vacated when the team fired Ken Whisenhunt the day after the season ended.

Multiple reports had Arians arriving on Wednesday night with the interview set to be conducted on Thursday.

Arians, a finalist for the Chicago job that went to Marc Trestman on Wednesday, is running out of options if he wants to be a head coach next season as positions were filled in rapid succession on Wednesday, leaving only the Arizona and Jacksonville jobs still open.

Arians spent 12 games as interim head coach in Indianapolis while coach Chuck Pagano was treated for leukemia. The Colts went 9-3 in those dozen games with Arians in charge. He succeeded Whisenhunt as offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh and was there for five seasons before leaving to go to the Colts and their new rookie quarterback Andrew Luck. Arians also was head coach at Temple for five years.

Of the others who interviewed with the Cardinals, one is off the market. Mike McCoy, Denver's offensive coordinator, took the head coaching job in San Diego earlier this week. The Cardinals also interviewed their defensive coordinator Ray Horton, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

Bevell, who grew up in nearby Scottsdale and played for Chaparral High, has a career of working with successful quarterbacks, including Seattle's rookie sensation Russell Wilson.

If he got the Arizona job, he'd be trying to repair the worst quarterback situation in the league. Arizona started four people at the position and the only one who had any success, Kevin Kolb, went down to a season-ending injury in Week 6.

"I was real fortunate to start my career with a great quarterback in Brett Favre," Bevell said after his interview, "but there were a lot of other guys along the way that I was able to work with, whether it was in college or in the positions that I've had after that. ...

"It doesn't matter if it's the quarterback, your tight end, your running back, what do they do well? We want to accentuate those positives, and the things that they don't do as well. We need to cover those up and make their strengths come out. That's what I've tried to do."

He said the Seahawks "just loved" Wilson from the start.

"We loved his intangibles, loved how he played the game, how important it was to him, his belief system that he had in himself and that he was going to always be successful," Bevell said, "but then it was my job to figure out what he did well."