History of the Arizona Cardinals

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This article details the history of the Arizona Cardinals American Football Club. The Cardinals are the oldest existing professional football club in the United States.

[edit] Chicago years (1898-1959)

The Cardinals began as an amateur athletic club team in Chicago named the Morgan Athletic Club, which was founded by Chicago painter/builder Chris O'Brien in 1898. Early in the 20th century (by 1913), the team turned professional.

O'Brien later moved them to Chicago's Normal Park and renamed them the Racine Normals, since Normal Park was located on Racine Avenue in Chicago. In 1901, O'Brien bought used maroon uniforms from the University of Chicago, the colors of which had by then faded, leading O'Brien to exclaim, "That's not maroon, it's cardinal red!" It was then that the team changed its name to the Racine Cardinals.

The team disbanded in 1906 mostly for lack of local competition, but reformed in 1913. They were forced to suspend operations for a second time in 1918 due to World War I and the outbreak of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. They resumed operations later in the year, and have since operated continuously.

[edit] 1920s

In 1920, the team became a charter member of the American Professional Football Association (which became the NFL in 1922), for a franchise fee of $100USD. The Cardinals and the Bears (originally founded as the Decatur Staleys before moving to Chicago in 1921) are the only charter members of the NFL still in existence, though the Green Bay Packers, who joined the league in 1921, existed prior to the formation of the NFL. The person keeping the minutes of the first league meeting, unfamiliar with the nuances of Chicago football, recorded the Cardinals as from Racine, Wisconsin. The team was renamed the Chicago Cardinals in 1922 after a team actually from Racine, Wisconsin entered the league. That season the team moved to Comiskey Park.

The Staleys and Cardinals played each other twice in 1920^[1] as the Racine Cardinals and the Decatur Staleys, making their rivalry the oldest in the NFL. They split the series, with the home team winning in each. In the Cardinals 7-6 victory over the Staleys in their first meeting of the season, each team scored a TD on a fumble recovery, with the Staleys failing their extra point try.^[2]

The Cardinals' defeat of the Staleys proved critical, since George Halas's Staleys went on to a 10-1-2 record overall, 5-1-2 in league play. The Akron Pros were the first ever league champions, they finished with an 8-0-3 record, 6-0-3 in league play, ending their season in a 0-0 tie against the Staleys. Since the Pros merely had to tie the game in order to win the title, they could afford to play not to lose. Had the Staleys not lost to the Cardinals, they would have gone into that fateful game with an 11-0-1 record, 6-0-1 in league play. As it was, it all but assured that the Staleys/Bears and Cardinals would be intense rivals.

The two teams played to a tie in 1921,^[1] when the Bears won all but 2 games, thus the Cardinals came within 1 point of costing the Bears a second consecutive championship in the league's first 2 years of existence. In 1922, the Bears went 9-3-0,^[3] losing to the Cardinals twice. The Bears still edged the Cardinals for 2nd place in the league, but those losses dashed all hopes of the Bears repeating as champions.^[4] In 1923 and 1924, the Bears got the better of the Cardinals all 3 times the 2 teams played.^[5][6] But in 1925, the Bears went 0-1-1 against the Cardinals with the tie meaning the Cardinals were only a 1/2 game in front of the Pottsville Maroons heading into their fateful 1925 showdown.^[1]

Thus, in the first 6 years of the NFL's existence, the Bears-Cardinals games had a direct impact on the league championship 4 times. The Bears and Cardinals each took home 1 title during that span. But the Bears nearly cost the Cardinals their title, the Cardinals nearly cost the Bears their title and but for the Cardinals tenacity against the Bears, the Bears very well might have won 2 others. The Bears were such a dominant team against everyone but the Cardinals in those days that from 1920-1925 the Canton Bulldogs, champions in 1922 and 1923, beat them just 2 times and no other team in the NFL defeated the Bears more than once over that entire 6 year span...except the Cardinals.^[1]

Legend has it that the Cardinals played the Chicago Tigers in 1920, with the loser being forced to leave town. While this has never been proven, the Tigers did disband after one season.

The Cardinals won their first NFL championship in 1925, finishing the season with a record of 11-2-1. In a controversial ruling by the league, the Pottsville Maroons, the team with the best record, had their franchise revoked for violating the territorial rights of the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Thus, the Cardinals won the 1925 title by default. (For more on the controversy, see 1925 NFL Championship controversy.)

[edit] 1930s

The Cardinals posted a winning record only twice in the twenty years (1931 and 1935) after their championship—including 10 straight losing seasons from 1936 to 1945.

Dr. David Jones bought the team from O'Brien in 1929. In 1932 the team was purchased by Charles Bidwill, then a vice president of the Chicago Bears. The team has been under the ownership of the Bidwill family since then.

[edit] 1940s

In 1944, owing to player shortages caused by World War II, the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers merged for one year and were known as the "Card-Pitt", or derisively as the "Carpets" as they were winless that season.

The Cardinals won their last NFL championship game in 1947 (28-21 over the Philadelphia Eagles) with their "Million-Dollar Backfield", which included quarterback Paul Christman, halfback Charley Trippi, halfback Elmer Angsman, and fullback Pat Harder, piling up 282 rushing yards. However, Bidwill was not around to see it; he'd died before the season, leaving the team to his wife Violet. He had, however, beaten the Chicago Rockets of the upstart All-America Football Conference for the rights to Trippi. This signing is generally acknowledged as the final piece in the championship puzzle. They advanced to the championship game the next season, but lost 7-0 in a rematch with the Eagles, played in a heavy snowstorm that almost completely obscured the field. The next year, Violet Bidwill married St. Louis businessman Walter Wolfner.

[edit] 1950s

The 1950s were dismal for the team, with only 33 victories for the decade. Most years found the Cardinals in last place and in their best year of the decade (1956), they finished in second with a 7-5 record. These poor performances, coupled with the near-mythic status of the Bears, resulted in a decline in attendance and revenue. The Bidwills engineered a deal with the NFL that sent the Cardinals to St. Louis beginning with the 1960 season, a move which also blocked St. Louis as a market against the emerging American Football League.

[edit] St. Louis years (1960-1987)

During the Cardinals' stay in St. Louis, two major Cardinal teams (football and baseball) called the city home. Sports fans and local news broadcasters called them "the football Cardinals" or "the baseball Cardinals" to distinguish the two.

[edit] 1960s

The new St. Louis football Cardinals were much improved, and the team was competitive for much of the 1960s. New stars emerged in Larry Wilson, Charley Johnson, Jim Bakken, Sonny Randle, and Jim Hart. In an era when only two or four teams qualified for the NFL playoffs, the Cardinals' playoff drought continued, though the team did advance to the Playoff Bowl in 1964.

In 1966, the Cardinals were in first place in the Eastern Conference with an 8-2-1 record, but a loss to the Dallas Cowboys, which went on to win the conference title, started a three-game losing streak to end the season, leaving St. Louis at 8-5-1. Two years later, the Cardinals swept the Cleveland Browns and ended the year with a 9-4-1 mark, but a loss to a sub-par San Francisco 49ers club and a tie against the woeful Pittsburgh Steelers kept the Cardinals out of the playoffs. St. Louis fell back to 4-9-1 in 1969, but that season saw the debut of Roger Wehrli, a star safety at the University of Missouri who played 14 seasons for the Cardinals and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

[edit] 1970s

In 1970, the Cardinals posted three consecutive shutouts in November, blanking the Houston Oilers, Boston Patriots, and the Cowboys, the last of those victories coming 38-0 on Monday Night Football in the Cotton Bowl. But St. Louis collapsed down the stretch, losing December games to the New York Giants, Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins to finish 8-5-1 and out of the playoffs. The Cardinals then regressed to three consecutive 4-9-1 seasons from 1971-73.

Violet Bidwill Wolfner died in 1962, and her sons, Bill and Charles, Jr. took control. Bill Bidwill became sole owner in 1972 and still owns the team today. Only the New York Giants and Chicago Bears have been in the hands of one family longer than the Cardinals.

Larry Wilson retired following the 1972 season, and in 1973, Don Coryell, who built a powerhouse program at San Diego State became head coach. The Cardinals registered a 7-0 record to open the 1974 season and won the NFC East championship on the strength of a season sweep of the Redskins. In the franchise's first playoff game since 1948, St. Louis took an early 7-0 lead against the Minnesota Vikings in Bloomington, Minnesota, but a missed field goal just before halftime sapped the Cardinals' momentum. The Vikings scored 16 points in the first seven minutes of the second half and cruised to a 30-14 victory.

The Cardinals won the NFC East again in 1975, despite a 32-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving. The playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams was a disaster: Lawrence McCutcheon set an NFL playoff record by rushing for 202 yards, and Jack Youngblood and Bill Simpson returned interceptions for touchdowns, staking the Rams to a 28-9 halftime lead en route to a 35-23 victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

During this period, the Cardinals boasted an effective offense in the wake of a record-setting offensive line which included standouts Dan Dierdorf, Conrad Dobler, and Tom Banks.

This period for the franchise was characterized by exciting close games, come-from-behind nailbiters, and several frustrating near-misses. The press and league fans began to call the team the "Cardiac Cardinals". Team stars from the 1970s included Wehrli, wide receiver Mel Gray, and running backs Terry Metcalf and Jim Otis.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, the Cardinals suffered a controversial loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Cardinal tight end J. V. Cain, running an apparent game-winning route, was shoved out of the end zone by Dallas defensive backs Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters in what appeared to be obvious interference, but a penalty was not called.[1] With this loss, the Cardinals were dethroned from the divisional lead and became the first NFC team to reach 10 wins without qualifying for the playoffs, losing a tiebreaker to the Redskins due to Washington's sweep of the season series.

In 1977, the Cardinals started slowly but won 6 consecutive games before losing the Thanksgiving Day game to the Miami Dolphins, 55-14. Bob Griese's record-setting day turned out to be the first of 12 straight losses for the Cardinals (extending into 1978), a streak which included being only the second team ever to lose to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the first to lose in Tampa Stadium. Coryell and several key players, including Dobler and Metcalf, departed the team at the end of the 1977 season. The Cardinals would make the playoffs only once in the next 21 years, and that appearance was in a 16-team tournament at the end of the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season.

For the 1978 season, Bidwill hired Bud Wilkinson, famous for building a football dynasty in 17 seasons at the University of Oklahoma. But Wilkinson, who had been out of coaching since retiring from the Sooners following the 1963 season, could not turn the Cardinals around. St. Louis started 1978 with eight straight losses and finished at 6-10, and Wilkinson was fired in 1979 with the Cardinals at 3-10 and last in the NFC East. Wilkinson was canned by Bidwill for refusing to bench quarterback Jim Hart in favor of rookie Steve Pisarkiewicz. Larry Wilson, the Pro Football Hall of Fame safety who starred for the Cardinals for 13 seasons, coached the final three games of the 1979 season.

The Cardinals experienced several years of notoriously poor drafts and unfortunate personnel moves in the late 1970s, typified by the first-round selection of kicker Steve Little, who was paralyzed in a 1980 automobile accident, and hiring Wilkinson in 1978.

[edit] 1980s

However, the Cardinals had some success in the early 1980s, posting three consecutive winning seasons from 1982 to 1984. The heart of this squad was the prolific trio of quarterback Neil Lomax, wide receiver Roy Green, and running back Ottis Anderson.

In 1982, the Cardinals qualified for the expanded 16-team playoff field with a 5-4 mark in the strike-shortened year, but fell 41-16 to the Green Bay Packers. St. Louis finished 1983 at 8-7-1, including victories over the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks, who lost to the Raiders in the AFC championship game. The Cardinals entered the final weekend of 1984 with a chance to win the NFC East by defeating the Redskins, but Neil O'Donoghue missed a game-winning field goal at the gun, giving Washington a 29-27 victory and the division championship.

St. Louis started 1985 3-1, but finished 5-11, leading to the termination of coach Jim Hanifan after six seasons. Gene Stallings, formerly the head coach at Texas A&M and a long-time assistant to Tom Landry with the Cowboys, replaced Hanifan. The Cardinals finished 4-11-1 in 1986, but improved to 7-8 in 1987, falling just one win shy of the playoffs.

The 1987 season is remembered for a stunning comeback, rallying from a 28-3 deficit against the Buccaneers by scoring 28 points in the fourth quarter for a 31-28 victory. It remains the largest fourth-quarter comeback in NFL history.

During the Cardinals' 28-year stay in St. Louis, they advanced to the playoffs just three times (1974, 1975 & 1982), never hosting or winning in any appearance. The team left St. Louis before the 1988 season, after Bidwill was unable to convince the city to build a new stadium. Their last home game was on December 13, 1987 (a 27-24 victory over the New York Giants in front of 29,623 fans on a late Sunday afternoon).

In spite of what was considered lackluster performance in St. Louis, their overall record there, of 187 wins, 202 losses, and 13 ties (.481 winning percentage) is easily the highest winning percentage for any of the three locations that the Cardinals have been associated with. In Chicago they had a record of 163-247-25 for a .403 winning percentage, in Arizona (through 2006 season) a record of 105-199, or a .345 winning percentage.

[edit] Arizona years (1988-present)

[edit] Early years (1988-97)

In 1988, the Cardinals moved to Arizona, and the Phoenix Cardinals started playing home games in Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University.

In March of 1994, Bill Bidwell renamed the team the Arizona Cardinals due to public pressure being that the city of Phoenix did not acknowledge the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday..^[7] The rest of the NFL owners quickly approved the name change.

The Cardinals spent most of their first decade in Arizona as a cellar dweller. This was in part because, in defiance of geographic reality, they remained in the NFC East—resulting in some of the longest road trips in the league. Attendance averaged roughly 35,000 in a 73,000-seat stadium, meaning that the Cardinals were seen on television at home twice a year at most. Bidwill ran the team in what many considered an excessively frugal manner. The high draft picks from those losing years, more often than not, left the franchise and enjoyed greater success with other teams.

Gene Stallings remained the team's coach following the move from St. Louis to the desert. The Cardinals overcame close losses in the first two weeks to the eventual AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys, winning seven of their next nine games to improve to 7-4. The most memorable of these wins came against the San Francisco 49ers, as Phoenix erased a 23-0 deficit to win 24-23. The Cardinals' playoff hopes came crumbling down five consecutive losses to close the season, including two to the eventual division champion Philadelphia Eagles. Stallings announced his intent to resign following the 1989 season after a 37-14 loss to the Rams in week 11, but Bidwill instead fired Stallings at this point. Under interim coach Hank Kuhlmann, the Cardinals repeated their swoon of 1988, losing all five games under the new coach. Stallings returned to college football, leading the Alabama Crimson Tide to the 1992 national championship.

Joe Bugel, the architect of the Redskins' famous "Hogs" offensive line in the 1980s, coached the Cardinals from 1990 to 1993, usually finishing last in the dominant NFC East, which produced the Super Bowl winner in each of those seasons (Giants in '90, Redskins '91, Cowboys '92-93). Bugel's first three teams finished 5-11 in 1990 and 4-12 in both 1991 and 1992 before improving to 7-9 in 1993. During the 1993 season, the Cardinals outscored their opponents by 57 points, but suffered eight losses by seven points or less, five of those setbacks coming to playoff teams. A three-game winning streak to close the season, including a 17-6 triumph over the playoff bound Giants, was not enough to save Bugel's job.

Buddy Ryan replaced Bugel in 1994, serving as both general manager and head coach, but lasted only two seasons. He infamously guaranteed victory in the 1994 Week 3 game at the Cleveland Browns, which Cleveland subsequently won, 32-0. The Cardinals, who ranked third in the NFL in total defense in 1994 but suffered from a lack of consistency at quarterback, entered the final week of the season with an outside chance at a playoff berth, but a 10-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons ended those hopes as Arizona finished 8-8. The 1995 season saw the Cardinals drop to 4-12, including an embarrassing 27-7 loss to the expansion Carolina Panthers. Ryan's tenure ended on December 26, less than 24 hours after the Cardinals lost 37-13 to the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. Dallas returned to Sun Devil Stadium 34 days later and defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.

Ryan was followed by Vince Tobin, who improved the Cardinals to 7-9 in 1996, led by defensive end Simeon Rice, the third overall pick who became the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year, and a rejuvenated Boomer Esiason at quarterback. Esiason threw for 522 yards in an overtime victory over the Redskins in the Cardinals' final game at RFK Stadium, and two weeks later led a fourth-quarter comeback against the playoff-bound Eagles. The 1996 season also featured a lowlight: a 31-21 loss at home to the New York Jets, the only game the Jets won during a 1-15 season. The Cardinals fell back to 4-12 in 1997, but that season saw the debut of rookie quarterback Jake Plummer, who the previous season guided Arizona State to a remarkable 11-0 regular season before falling just short of the national championship with a loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The higlight of the 1997 season was a 25-22 overtime victory over the Cowboys in week 2, ending Dallas' 13-game winning streak over the Cardinals which dated back to 1990. The momentum generated by the victory over the Cowboys was squandered with losses in the next two games, falling to the Redskins 19-13 in overtime in the first-ever game at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, and an 18-17 setback to the playoff-bound Buccaneers.

[edit] Playoff year (1998)

During the 1998 season Jake Plummer enjoyed his greatest stretch of success during his tenure with the franchise, in terms of victories at least, as his quarterback rating was still an average 75.0. The team during that time had once again been dubbed the Cardiac Cards by the local and national media^[8] as eight of their 16 regular-season games were decided by three points or less, and seven of those games ended in favor of the Cardinals. Solidifying their status as the team to beat in the clutch, as the Cardinals, with a 6-7 record going into the 15th week, won 3 straight games to clinch a playoff spot, including one that very week which had to be decided in overtime, and the total margin of those 3 victories was a mere 8 points.

This and the fact that none of their victories had been to teams with winning records made them heavy underdogs going into their Wild Card Playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. Considering their two regular season losses to the Cowboys and the fact that they had been on the losing end of 16 of the last 17 games against their division rivals, including 9 straight losses at Texas Stadium,^[9] the "Team of the Nineties" seemed to have history, among other forces, on their side. To further the situation, the Cardinals franchise had not won a single playoff game since their title year of 1947, resulting in the longest active drought in professional sports history.

The Cardinals won the game 20-7; however, the final score made the game appear closer than it actually was, as Arizona dominated the Cowboys on both ends of the football throughout the game. At Texas Stadium that afternoon, the Cardinals jumped out to a 10-0 halftime lead. The Cardinals would later increase that lead to 20-0 in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. The Cowboys' only score was a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, and the Cardinals held on for the upset. The Cardinals, who had suffered for 51 years as the NFL's doormat, finally had a playoff win. However, the distinction was short lived as the Cardinals fell in the divisional round of the playoffs to the Minnesota Vikings who possessed a 15-1 record as well as the highest scoring offense in NFL history. The Vikings won the game 41-21 in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.^[10]

[edit] Return to mediocrity (1999-2006)

Coming off their playoff run in 1998, the Cardinals were expected to do bigger and better things in 1999, but a tough schedule ranked in the top 5 as well as key injuries returned the team to their losing ways, getting off to a 2-6 start. However, the Cards would make another run, winning 4 straight games to get back into the playoff chase, but it was not meant to be; Arizona lost their last 4 games to finish with a disappointing 6-10 record.

Tobin was fired during the 2000 season and replaced by existing defensive coordinator Dave McGinnis, who remained head coach until his firing in 2003; McGinnis compiled a win-loss record of 17-40 during his tenure. In McGinnis' second game as head coach, Aeneas Williams tied an NFL record by returning a fumble 104 yards for a touchdown in a 16-15 victory over the Redskins. Other notable victories during McGinnis' tenure included a 34-31 overtime victory over the Oakland Raiders in 2001 in the Cardinals' first-ever visit to Oakland, and an 18-17 triumph in the final game of the 2003 season over the Minnesota Vikings, in which Josh McCown threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Nate Poole with no time left on the clock, eliminating the Vikings from the playoffs.

The Cardinals have not won more than seven games in a season since their 1998 playoff appearance, and have had one of the worst yearly attendance records in the NFL. Sun Devil Stadium, during the time the Cardinals were a tenant there, gained a reputation for being one of the quietest stadiums in the NFL (which is a far cry compared to that facility's ASU home games). The few fans who did show up for games were most often rooting for the away team, partially due to the fact that much of Arizona's population during the winter months is composed of residents whose homestate lies elsewhere, creating such "home games" on the road for opposing teams. In addition, many of Arizona's permanent residents grew up in other states. Such incidents were most noticeable when teams with great national followings, such as the Packers, Bears, 49ers, Raiders, Patriots, Steelers and Cowboys, came into town.^[11]

In 2004, the Cardinals hired former Vikings head coach Dennis Green as their head coach. Prior to his signing with the Cardinals, he compiled a 97-62 record in ten seasons with Minnesota (1992-2001), leading that franchise to four NFC Central Division titles and two NFC Championship games. He was fired after the 2006 season.

[edit] New stadium (2006)

Main article: 2006 Arizona Cardinals season

In 2000, Maricopa County voters passed a ballot initiative by a margin of 51% to 49%, providing funding for a new Cardinals stadium (as well as for improvements to Major League Baseball spring training facilities in the greater Phoenix region; and youth recreation). After some legal obstacles, the Cardinals began construction of their new facility in April 2003, in Glendale, one of the western suburbs of Phoenix. University of Phoenix Stadium features a retractable roof and a slide-out grass surface, which is good for the hot desert weather; the new stadium has a state-of-the-art air conditioning system and high-back seats.

For some time, many team officials blamed Sun Devil Stadium for the Cardinals' woes. Being merely a tenant in a college-owned stadium denied the Cardinals access to many revenue streams that other NFL teams took for granted.

The 63,500-seat stadium (expandable to 72,800) opened on August 12, 2006 when the Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-13, in a preseason game. The Cardinals then hosted their first regular season opening day game since moving to the Phoenix area in 1988, defeating the San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of the 2005 blowout in Mexico City, 34-27, in front of a sellout crowd of 63,407. In 2008, the stadium will host Super Bowl XLII.

Despite the new stadium, the team has continued to struggle on the field, beginning the 2006 season with a 1-8 record, punctuated by a 24-23 loss to the Chicago Bears on October 16 (before a sellout crowd enjoying a rare Cardinals appearance on Monday Night Football) in which Arizona blew a 20-point lead in an extremely bizarre game as Chicago scored zero offensive touchdowns and the Cardinals led in several statistical categories including Time of Possession, Passing Yardage, Rushing Yardage, Giveaways, Takeaways, and Interceptions. Despite all the overwhelming statistical evidence the Bears capitalized on the two turnovers the Cardinals did commit, a pair of fumbles, and promptly returned them both for touchdowns. They also converted a punt return into a touchdown. The Cardinals had a chance to redeem themselves with a last minute field goal which would give them the victory, but their offense went into a conservative state and stalled just past midfield, which set up a 40 yard field goal attempt by Neil Rackers, which was wide left. Afterwards Dennis Green fired off an uncharacteristic, angry tirade in the postgame press conference, stating "The Bears are who we thought they were...and if you want to crown them, then crown their ass!"

Following the game against the Bears, Green fired his offensive coordinator, Keith Rowen, as he and the media felt the blame had to fall on somebody, and the focal point was the game's final drive with the conservative play calling being the reason behind the firing. In the first game after the Monday Night debacle, the Cardinals were dominated in a 22-9 loss to the previously winless Raiders, one of only two games Oakland won in 2006.

On January 1, 2007, after a 5-11 season and a 3-year record of 16-32, the Cardinals announced the firing of Green. Former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt will be the next head coach for the 2007 season.

In the 1st round of the 2007 NFL Draft, the Cardinals selected offensive tackle Levi Brown from Penn State with the fifth overall pick.

[edit] References