TEMPE, Ariz. — How do you establish a program in the NFL — one successful enough to erase years of mediocrity, rising out of the ashes and soaring to the verge of pro football’s biggest contest? Does it take committed ownership? A franchise quarterback, with an anchor to protect his blind side?
If so, then Josh McDaniels, new hire of Pat Bowlen, boss to Jay Cutler and Ryan Clady, can aspire to reach the heights being climbed by Ken Whisenhunt, coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Even before he placed his first picture on the desk of his new office, McDaniels was likely in a much better place than Whisenhunt was when he was hired two years ago. Many across the league saw the post-Mike Shanahan Broncos as a prime job, one that included one of the sport’s best owners and a level of talent — at least offensively — that rivaled anything anyone in the NFL had to offer.
The Cardinals? Not so much.
“I had a lot of people say that it was a very good job to take, but to be honest, there were a few that said, ‘You have to be very careful with that job,’ ” Whisenhunt said as he prepared his team for Sunday’s NFC championship game against Philadelphia.
Before this season’s success, it was hard to imagine anything about the Arizona Cardinals being a selling point, except perhaps the weather. Whereas the Broncos have won two Super Bowls and played in the AFC title game as recently as 2005, losing to a Pittsburgh Steelers team whose offense was coordinated by Whisenhunt, this weekend will mark Arizona’s first championship game in more than 60 years.
Before beating Atlanta in the wild-card round, the Cardinals’ franchise had gone 61 years since hosting a playoff game. The Falcons had a better record but had to travel to the desert because Arizona won the NFC West.
The division crown was the first in 33 seasons for the team, which had a 9-7 record and lost four of its final six regular-season games
For years, team owner Bill Bidwell was regarded as arguably the cheapest owner in the league, the serious lack of spending the main factor in why the Cardinals had experienced just one winning season in its first 20 years after moving from St. Louis. But despite everything that seemed to scream against joining the likes of Buddy Ryan, Joe Bugel and Dennis Green as coaches who thought they could turn the franchise’s fortunes around, only to fail, Whisenhunt jumped in head first.
The one-game improvement the Cardinals made this season from Whisenhunt’s first season may seem small but it was crucial. Not only did it put the Cardinals in the postseason, it also gave them a home game to open the playoffs. Then, after Arizona beat Carolina on the road in the divisional series, the wild-card Eagles upset the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, which opened the door to Arizona hosting this weekend’s game, with the winner going to Super Bowl XLIII.
Whisenhunt said he always thought the Cardinals could get to this point. What he wasn’t sure about, he admitted, was if he’d be able to take them there.
“The biggest thing is, will you be able to institute your plan?” he said. “I knew organizationally how I wanted things to be done. The doubts that you have are, ‘Am I going to be able to do them and how long will it take?’ Everybody has that enthusiasm when they first come in, that they will get it done right away, but a lot of times, things don’t happen as quickly as you would like.
“A lot of it comes down to committed ownership. I’m excited that a lot of the things they said if we could get them done would help us put a competitive team on the field seem to be happening. I think it’s gratifying.”
But even as tweedy types sip oaky Chablis in trendy restaurants talking about the Cardinals’ chances of getting to the Super Bowl, and electricians hitch up their britches and wax philosophically on how the team’s success bodes well for the local economy and that area children will proudly be able to embrace professional sports, there still are others who wonder if this season is something of a fluke.
Perhaps slow to grasp the concept of January football, it took two extensions from the league before the Cards sold enough tickets to the wild-card game against Atlanta to avoid a local television blackout. And even Whisenhunt, talking about the team, and the franchise, admits, “I’m not gonna sit here and tell you, by any stretch of the imagination, that we’ve arrived.”
But that still hasn’t stopped anyone in the team’s complex from using its troubled past and the jokes that accompanied it as a motivating factor this week. In the locker room, it’s hard to walk 10 feet without seeing a printout impressing upon the players that “Now is the time for us to ‘Prove It’ — that we deserve to be at this level.”
The papers also quote a passage from the Bible, which reads in part, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.”
All of the above would indicate a realization that one just doesn’t simply open a door and walk onto the same grounds trod by Lombardi’s Packers, or Landry’s Cowboys — or even Shan-ahan’s Broncos. But some Cardinals, even as they wear T-shirts imploring themselves to “Prove It,” still say they’re using lack of respect from others around the league as inspiration.
“Nobody wants us to be here,” says safety Adrian Wilson.
But others who have experienced life as king of the NFL hill, and know what it takes to reach such pinnacles, chuckle at the hoary stimulation.
“When you haven’t done anything to earn respect, there’s always going to be a lack of respect,” said quarterback Kurt Warner, the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV. “I laugh at it, just from the fact of, why wouldn’t there be a lack of respect when we haven’t done anything to prove otherwise?
“That’s the process. We’re trying to earn respect as an organization and a team.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
They are who we thought they were
For years, one of the running discussions in the sports world has been what is the worst-run professional sports franchise, with the answer seemingly always coming down to the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and the Arizona Cardinals. Arguments Cards detractors have used include:
• The team has had only one winning season and one playoff appearance in its 20 seasons in Arizona. (Quarterback Jake Plummer led the Cardinals to a 9-7 record in 1998).
• Since moving to Arizona, the Cardinals have an overall record of 118-211. The franchise hasn’t had a double-digit season in victories since 1976.
• In its second year in Arizona, the Cardinals fired Gene Stallings after 11 games. Since then, the team has had seven head coaches.
Anthony Cotton, The Denver Post
