If we’re talking strictly Arizona Cardinals, there are two nominees for “best team.” One option is the nine-win 2008 squad — led by Hall of Famer Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald at his peak — that caught fire in the playoffs and lost at the fingertips of Santonio Holmes in Super Bowl XLII, one of the greatest games ever played.
The second choice would be the 2015 iteration, when another rejuvenated veteran quarterback, Carson Palmer, let it fly in Bruce Arians' second-ranked offense, resulting in a franchise-record 13 wins and NFC title game appearance.
But, despite the fact that the Cardinals are America’s oldest professional football team, the franchise has won one football championship — and it came 41 years before the relocation to Arizona in 1988.
The 1947 Chicago Cardinals possessed one of those classic nicknames for an iconic NFL positional unit: the “Million Dollar Backfield” (a.k.a. the “Dream Backfield”), comprised of quarterback Paul Christman, halfbacks Elmer Angsman and Charley Trippi and fullback Pat Harder, all getting big money from owner Charles Bidwill (the San Francisco 49ers later boasted a more famous version).
The backfield didn’t combine for huge numbers until 1948, when they had the best offense in the league, but Bidwill’s investments nonetheless reaped benefits right away. Trippi, the future Hall of Famer making $100,000, ran for 401 yards, while Angsman rushed for 412 yards and found the end zone seven times. Harder rushed for 371 yards and scored seven touchdowns of his own.
Led by head coach Jimmy Conzelman and his T-Formation, the 1947 Cardinals scored the third most points in the league (306) and gave up the third fewest (231). They went 9-3 and topped the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 in the NFL Championship game for the organization’s first and last ring (besides being controversially named champions in 1925).
Admittedly, the 1948 Cardinals were probably even better. They rolled to an 11-1 record and averaged a staggering 32.9 PPG, only to drop the NFC title game in a snowstorm in Philly, 7-0. With the ring on their fingers, though, the 1947 team earns another honor: The label of best Cardinals team in this space.
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