St.Louis Cardinals: Team of the 1970s?

[Todd Pence]

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."

That was kind of the problem. Dull was what won titles during the decade.

[Jay Z]

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."

That was kind of the problem. Dull was what won titles during the decade.

Lynn Swann was dull? The 1976 Raiders had a high powered offense, so did the 1977 Cowboys.

You could certainly LOSE the Super Bowl by being dull (sorry Vikings.) A lot of 1970s football was very dull. Maybe a problem was that UNLESS you had the top QB and a top offense, you were dull. Not enough 35-34 shootouts between middling teams.

[JohnH19]

For those of us that followed the NFL throughout the decade, the only relatively "dull" season was 1977, and that was only due to a lack of scoring. Yes, the running game became prevalent in 1972 when the powers that be foolishly moved the hash marks in, but the football was still exciting due to the existence of some of the greatest rivalries the game has ever known; Cowboys-Redskins and Steelers-Raiders being the most memorable of many. There were also many tremendous division races, playoff games, and surprise teams that came out of nowhere to contend. IMO, 1975 and 76 were two of the best seasons ever.

[L.C. Greenwood]

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?

The problem with those mid 70s teams was a lack of defensive playmakers, and they were exposed in the playoffs. The Cardinals offense was easily Super Bowl-winning caliber, but even if we assume the Cards win a couple NFC playoff games and advance to the SB, their defense would have been shredded by either the Steelers or Raiders during that era. By 1977, the Cards were slipping, and lost the talented Terry Metcalf for 1978.

[conace21]

The Cardinals just did not have the infrastructure to be a great team long enough to compete for Team of the Decade status. Bidwell was a lousy owner. Compare that to the regimes run by Dan Rooney, Al Davis, and Schramm /Landry/Brandt.

[Steviek]

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?

Probably not, although for franchises with similar longevity, the Lions are not too far behind. And at least the Cardinals can say they've been to a Super Bowl.

[CSKreager]

The playoff format of that era hurt the Cardinals. No extra Wild Card in 1976, no seeding in 1974.