Kliff Kingsbury Literally Iced His Own Defense in Ridiculous Rookie Coaching Mistake

Kliff Kingsbury is a rookie head coach in the NFL, so let's just hope he learns from this egregious mistake he made as the first half wound down on Thursday night.

The 49ers boldly elected to go for it on 4th-and-goal from the one-yard line with four seconds left on the clock. The Cardinals successfully stuffed Jeff Wilson at the line, but it turns out that Kingsbury called a timeout just moments before the play.

The Cardinals defense was forced back onto the field to try and prevent the Niners from scoring once again, and unfortunately came up short.

Jimmy Garoppolo was able to find Emmanuel Sanders for the wideout's first touchdown as a member of the 49ers, and the team entered the half with a 21-7 lead.

What could've been a one possession game for the Cardinals heading into halftime now sees them trailing by 14. Kingsbury may have thought he was being crafty by calling the last-second timeout, but he would've been much better off trusting his defense and letting them go for the stop.

As we mentioned earlier, Kingsbury is a rookie head coach, and while he'll certainly be held responsible for that mistake, he'll use it as a learning point and grow from it.