Established: 1898
Home Field: University of Phoenix Stadium – Glendale, Arizona
Owner(s): Bill Bidwill
General Manager: Rod Graves
Head coach: Ken Whisenhunt

The Arizona Cardinals are the oldest continuously running professional football team in the United States.  They were founded in 1898 in Chicago as the Morgan Athletic Club.  From 1899 to 1900,they were known as the Racine Normals, and then the Racine Cardinals from 1901 to 1919 (reformed in 1913).  In 1920, they became the Chicago Cardinals and a charter member of the NFL.

In 1925, the team was awarded the NFL Championship for the year, which was to become one of the most controversial championship titles in NFL history.  To this day many fans and NFL enthusiasts debate whether or not the Pottsville Maroons were the rightful owners of the 1925 title.  Though due to a controversial decision by then league president Joseph Carr, the Cardinals took the title and it is one of only two League Championships for the team.

In 1960, the team moved to St Louis, Missouri where they stayed until 1987.  During this time they were often referred to as the ‘football Cardinals’ to avoid confusion between them and the St Louis Cardinals baseball team.  In 1988, before the start of the NFL season, the team was moved to Tempe, Arizona where they have remained ever since.  Up until 2006, the team played all of their home games at Sun Devil Stadium, but moved to the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.  They hold their summer training at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and are now part of the NFC West.

Since their title in 1947, the team has made the playoffs seven times and won only five playoff games.  Three of those were during the team’s 2008-09 playoff run in which they made it to Super Bowl XLIII.

Championships

League Championships 1925, 1947
Conference Championships NFC: 2008

Division Championships

NFL West: 1947, 1948
NFC East: 1974, 1975
NFC West: 2008

Cardinals Trivia

• Ernie Nevers was the first Cardinal to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• In 1944, the Cardinals combined with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a wartime emergency measure.  The team was called Card-Pitt.
• The name of the Cardinals’ mascot – a cardinal – is Big Red.