St.Louis Cardinals: Team of the 1970s?

[JWL]

If the Cardinals won their final two regular season games in 1970, then they would have won the NFC East. Who knows from there what would have happened. They would have had a chance to win the Super Bowl. Let's assume they would not have won it and that Charley Winner would have went bye-bye anyway. Then let's assume 1971 and 1972 would have still been the lost seasons that they were.

Well, what if the Cardinals beat Minnesota in the '74 playoffs and went on to beat the Steelers in Super Bowl 9 and then defeated the Steelers in Super Bowl 10? Maybe they still miss the playoffs in 1976 due to a tie-breaker. Considering they would have won two Super Bowls under Don Coryell, maybe Coryell doesn't get fired in 1977. Maybe the Cardinals would have made the playoffs in either 1978 and/or 1979 with a 10+ win season. I'm not giving them playoff berths in each season. Just one. I don't want to get too greedy or crazy here.

Under my scenario the Steelers, Dolphins, Cowboys and Cardinals would each have two Super Bowl titles in the 1970s. The Colts and Raiders would have the other two. In this science fiction world, the Cardinals would have 10 win seasons in 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, and either 1978 or 1979. Would all this have been enough for the St. Louis Cardinals to have been crowned Team of the 1970s?

[BD Sullivan]

Way too many ifs for it to be viable. The Cardinals' problem during this era and beyond (until the last decade) was situated right at the top. The moronic infrastructure that dictated that the head coach had no say in who was drafted and the penny-pinching approach of Bidwill were insurmountable issues.

[Todd Pence]

What if Tampa Bay had won all 14 of their games instead of losing all 14?

[JWL]

What if Tampa Bay had won all 14 of their games instead of losing all 14?

That would be pretty spectacular is what that would be. Maybe 34 different bounces of the ball could have resulted in a 14-0 record.

[Todd Pence]

The Cardinals of the 70's do have one impressive statistic that they can brag about: Jim Hart started more games than any other QB during the decade.

[conace21]

According to Conrad Dobler's autobiography, Bill Bidwell was quoted as saying that a Super Bowl title would be disastrous, because then the players would demand higher salaries. Even if St. Louis had won the Super Bowl in 1970, his cheapness would have prevented any long term success.

[7DnBrnc53]

Way too many ifs for it to be viable. The Cardinals' problem during this era and beyond (until the last decade) was situated right at the top. The moronic infrastructure that dictated that the head coach had no say in who was drafted and the penny-pinching approach of Bidwill were insurmountable issues.

I think that moronic infrastructure led to the dismissal of Coryell after the 1977 season. He wanted Robin Cole in the draft that year, and they took Pisarkiewicz instead. That was the beginning of the end.

Also, I don't see them becoming team of the decade, but 1970 (if they didn't fall apart) and 1976 (if they won those controversial games late in the year against Dallas and Washington, they are 12-2, and they have home field) were their best chances to make the SB.

[SixtiesFan]

I used to listen to KMOX radio sports talk shows at night. Once during Don Coryell's time as St. Louis Cardinal coach, someone called in and said the Super Bowl is always dull, which in those days it usually was. The host replied that if the Cardinals (Hart, Metcalf, Gray) make the Super Bowl "You won't see dull football."

[Citizen]

You could make any team into the team of the decade if you re-write enough history.

[lastcat3]

You could make any team into the team of the decade if you re-write enough history.

Yep. You really have to do a lot of 'ifs and buts' to turn a team that hasn't won a championship in nearly seventy years (and only won two titles in there almost hundred year history) into a team of any particular decade.

A better question would be is if there is any franchise in professional sports that has a more morbid history than the football Cardinals frachise does?