Cardinals' Bruce Arians on coaching future: 'l'll think about it'

— -- SEATTLE -- Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians did not announce his intent to either retire or to coach in 2018 after his team beat the Seattle Seahawks, 26-24, but he did say he won't take long to make his decision.

"I'll think about it," Arians said with red, watery eyes during his postgame press conference. "I'm going to think about it. I'm not going to drag it out because it's not fair to people if I do decide."

But as of late Sunday afternoon, "nothing's changed. Nothing's been decided," Arians said.

The Cardinals will return to Arizona on Sunday night to ring in the New Year back home. On Monday, the Cardinals will clean out their lockers, have a team meeting and begin their exit meetings.

When Arians sits down with his wife, son and daughter to discuss whether or not he'll coach next season, he'll take a wealth of factors into consideration, including his family, his health, as well as what his heart and head are telling him.

"It's really hard to walk away from this," Arians said. "It wasn't hard to walk away four weeks ago when we were looking at what we were playing with. But to know we won three out of four, it's very hard to walk away from that."

Sunday's win gave Arians his 50th with the Cardinals, making him the franchise's winningest coach.

"I cannot lie, it feels good," Arians said. "It feels very good."

Getting Arians his 50th win was important to the players, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said, and was something the team discussed "a lot."

Even though Fitzgerald was optimistic that Arians will return next season, he didn't want to go down go down that road.

"I don't want to think about him walking away right now," Fitzgerald said. "We're holding out hope."

Fitzgerald thinks the Cardinals' success over the past five years could help draw Arians back. Arizona has averaged 10 wins a season since Arians was hired in 2013, a stretch that included 10, 11 and 13 wins in each of Arians' first three seasons, respectively.

"It's different from years past," Fitzgerald said. "It doesn't have that same feeling. This is a championship coaching staff.

"It definitely has changed the culture in a positive way.

After Sunday's game, Arians' charges were open about their desire to have Arians back in 2018.

"I hope so," outside linebacker Chandler Jones said. "We'll see, but I hope so."

Added defensive tackle Frostee Rucker: "We hope he's our coach next year. We'll fight for him."