Cardinals clean house, part with Ken Whisenhunt, GM Rod Graves

• Arizona went 18-30 following Kurt Warner's retiremenet
• Defensive coordinator Ray Horton is a leading candidate to take over for Whisenhunt
• Graves' replacement could also come from within organization

Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt and general manager Rod Graves were fired Monday morning, the day after the team finished 5-11 for the second time in the past three seasons.

It was a bold move because Whisenhunt had more wins than any other coach in team history and took the Cardinals to two NFC West titles and a Super Bowl appearance.

But long losing streaks in the past three years apparently led team president Michael Bidwill to decide change was needed.

The Cardinals haven't been to the playoffs the past three seasons and had losing streaks of seven games in 2010, six in 2011 and nine in 2012.

The direction of the organization pivoted when quarterback Kurt Warner retired after the 2009 season with a year left on his contract. The Cardinals have yet to find a replacement. Six different players started there over the next three seasons, and there is no clear starter for 2013.

There was no immediate word on successors for either Graves or Whisenhunt. But defensive coordinator Ray Horton is expected to be a candidate for the head coaching job. Bidwill also could be interested in Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who held the same job for two seasons under Whisenhunt and coached the Chiefs from 2009-11.

Andy Reid, fired by the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday, is a possibility, too.

Steve Keim, vice president of player personnel, is expected to be a leading candidate for the position of general manager. Jason Licht, director of player personnel, also is highly regarded and interviewed last year for the Chicago Bears general manager position.

Cardinals players were not immediately available for comment. They cleaned out their lockers earlier in the day and knew some changes were coming.

"Obviously, the nature of this business, when you're 5-11, a lot of us won't be here. Some coaches won't be here," defensive lineman Nick Eason said. "When you're not executing, whether it's you can't or you don't want to, you lose your job. That's part of this business. It's an ugly part. (Five and 11) is ugly, and when you're 5-11, you have some ugly consequences."

In addition, the team let go of assistant head coach/offensive line coach Russ Grimm, offensive coordinator Mike Miller, offensive quality control coach Chad Grimm, quarterbacks coach John McNulty, wide receivers coach Frank Reich and running backs coach Tommie Robinson.

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Somers also writes for The Arizona Republic, a Gannett property