When I think of the Arizona Cardinals, I don’t necessarily associate them with a storied football tradition. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the team has only been the “Arizona” Cardinals since the early 1990s. The team name doesn’t imply the long connection to an area like the Chicago Bears or New York Giants do. Surprisingly, however, the Cardinals are the oldest professional football team. The club was formed in Chicago during1898, more than twenty years before the formation of the National Football League. The Cardinals were a charter member of the NFL, one of two remaining charter members (the other being the Green Bay Packers).
Despite their longevity, the Cardinals have been bounced around throughout the country before landing in Arizona. As mentioned, they began as the Chicago Cardinals, then moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1960. There, they remained until 1987, when the team was moved to Tempe, Arizona, where they became the Phoenix Cardinals. The name was changed to the Arizona Cardinals simply because it was a change advocated by fans, and owner Bill Bidwell was eager to please his loyal fan base. After a good stay in Tempe, Arizona(18 years), the team decided to move in 2006 to Glendale, Arizona.
The Cardinals have won two NFL championships, but they both occurred well before the modern era of the NFL. The first came in 1925, and the second in 1947, twenty years before the first Super Bowl. The modern Cardinals have rarely been a contender, with an exception occurring just in the past several years. Superstar quarterback Kurt Warner joined the team in 2005 and re-emerged as one of the best passers in the league during the 2008 season, when he led a surprising Cardinals team to the Super Bowl. They lost one of the more entertaining Super Bowls of all time to the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-23.
This led to a 2009 season where Cardinals tickets were in high demand, and expectations for the season were higher than the Cardinals had seen in recent memory. The team made the playoffs again behind the stellar play of Kurt Warner and star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. They beat the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card game 51-45 in the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history. They then played the Saints, who routed them 45-14 on their way to winning the Super Bowl.
The Cardinals today are coached by former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt. They still possess one of the best wide receivers in the game in Larry Fitzgerald, but the rest of the team is lacking in standout talent. Going into the 2011 season they have hopes to make a strong showing in the NFC West, a division that really is up for anyone’s taking. Quarterback Kevin Kolb was their major off-season free agent acquisition, and Cardinals fans hope he will be able to effectively deliver the ball to one of the game’s best wide outs. Young running back Beanie Wells shows the promise of one day being an effective runner in the NFL. The team holds a lot of promise, but it may be a couple of years before they find themselves again in the discussion of real playoff contenders in the NFL.
