Are the Arizona Cardinals ready to end their NFL playoff drought?

December 5, 12:00 PMPhoenix Sports ExaminerTom Kessler

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There aren’t many chapters in the volume titled “Cardinals professional football playoff history.”

When chronicling the exploits of an NFL franchise which hasn’t achieved a division championship since the mid-1970s and hasn’t won a league title or hosted a post-season game since the late 40s, one need not imagine a bass-toned voice of authority such as that of the late, great John Facenda narrating “epic confrontations on the scorched desert grassland of Sun Devil Stadium.”

Much more appropriate for this soundtrack would be an incredulous guffaw from the affable Jim Mora, who could sum up the past six decades of Cardinals football with his signature exclamation: “Playoffs? You’re asking me about playoffs? We’re just trying to win a game, and you want to talk to me about playoffs?”

All past futility aside, the time has indeed come to talk about the Arizona Cardinals and playoffs.

If Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and company defeat the St. Louis Rams this Sunday -- or even if they don’t but the San Francisco 49ers lose to the New York Jets -- the red-and-white-clad competitors of head coach Ken Whisenhunt will clinch the NFC West Division championship, will earn the right to host a playoff game and will join a select group of successful Cardinals teams from the past.

The franchise which has been operating continuously since 1898 has produced exactly two NFL championships, the first of which came in 1925, eight years before the league began playing post-season games. The ’25 Cardinals, coached by Norm Barry, finished atop the standings with an 11-2-1 record, defeating a register of opponents that included the Milwaukee Badgers, Columbus Tigers, Kansas City Cowboys, Duluth Kelleys, Buffalo Bisons, Dayton Triangles and Hammond Pros.

The NFL began holding post-season playoffs in 1933. Throughout the ensuing 75 years, the Cardinals have rarely been invited.

* There was 1947 and 1948, when, mixing it up on the south side of Chicago, the Cardinals were the baddest men in the whole damn town. In ’47, coach Jimmy Conzelman’s Redbirds were the most-fearsome team in the whole league, as the Chicago Cards defeated the visiting Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 at Comiskey Park in the NFL Championship Game. A year later, the same two clubs would meet again in a rematch for the league title at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, where the Eagles prevailed 7-0.

* There was 1974 and 1975, when the Cardinals captured the spirit of St. Louis, winning consecutive NFC East Division championships. Known for late-game comeback heroics orchestrated by quarterback Jim Hart, receiver Mel Gray and running back Terry Metcalf, the “Cardiac Cardinals” finished 10-4 in ’74 and 11-3 in ’75 under the direction of head coach Don Coryell. In both seasons, they lost road games in the opening round of the playoffs, falling to the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams, respectively.

* There was the strike-shortened season of 1982, when coach Jim Hanifan’s St. Louis Cardinals finished 5-4 and qualified for what was called the “Super Bowl Tournament.” They were hammered in their tournament game by the Packers in Green Bay.

* There was 1998, when the Arizona Cardinals, playing in their 11^th season in the desert after relocating from St. Louis to Phoenix, finished 9-7 to earn an NFC Wildcard berth.

And that’s been it.

The ’98 team, under the direction of head coach Vince Tobin, defeated the Cowboys at Dallas for the Cardinal organization’s first playoff victory in 51 years. After losing the following week to the Vikings in Minnesota, the Cardinals haven’t qualified for the post-season since.

Arizona fans hope that the result of Sunday’s game will bring an end to the long-lasting drought. In watching their team unleash its prolific passing attack on the deep-green savanna of the climate-controlled University of Phoenix Stadium, they’ll be ready and eager to talk about playoffs.

* Arizona Sports Examiner Tom Kessler can be reached via e-mail at arizonasports@hotmail.com.