The Phoenix Cardinals have a very long and interesting history. The team dates back to 1922, when they entered the NFL as the Chicago Cardinals. David Jones sold the team in 1932 to Charles Bidwell, and the Cardinals have been in the Bidwell family every since.
The team fell on hard times in the 1930s, with only two winning season. The team did not perform much better in the 1940s until 1946, when they finished 6 and 5. In 1947, they won the NFL Championship and in 1948, they returned to defend their title, only to lose 7 to 0 to the Eagles.
The Cardinals only had one winning season between 1949 and 1959. In 1960, the Cardinals moved to St. Louis and became the St. Louis Cardinals, in an attempt to improve the team's performance. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Cardinals of St. Louis had some very great teams that would win them back to back division titles in 1974 and 1975. However, they returned to being a subpar team during the 1980s.
In 1988, after Bill Bidwell could not talk the city of Saint Louis into building a new stadium, he moved the team to Phoenix. From 1988 to 1993, they played as the Phoenix Cardinals in Sun Devil Stadium. In 1994, the team changed their name to the Arizona Cardinals, due to the preference of fans. After their move, the Cardinals stayed at the bottom of the division, garnering the interest of only 35,000 fans per home game.
But in 1998, the team not only got into the playoffs as a wild card team, but beat the Cowboys for their first playoff win since 1947. They got a new stadium in 2006, which has sold out every game since its opening. The team would finish 5 and 11 in 2006 then 8 and 8 in 2007.
In 2008, they shocked the football world by winning their first division title since 1975 and making it all the way to the Super Bowl. But their good fortune did not last, as they lost to the Steelers 27 to 23. Nevertheless, the Cardinals now have more fans than ever, and even those who are not fans are waiting to see what the team can do next.
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