History of the St. Louis Cardinals ( NFL ) - wikipedia History of the St. Louis Cardinals ( NFL ) For the history of the team before 1960, see History of the Chicago Cardinals. For the history of the team after 1988, see Arizona Cardinals. For the Major League Baseball team, see St. Louis Cardinals. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( January 2017 ) St. Louis Cardinals Established 1960 Ended 1987 Played in St. Louis, Missouri Logo Wordmark League / conference affiliations National Football League ( 1960 -- 1987 ) Eastern Conference ( 1960 -- 1969 ) Century Division ( 1967 -- 1969 ) National Football Conference ( 1970 -- 1987 ) NFC East ( 1970 -- 1987 ) Uniform Team colors Cardinal Red, White, Black Personnel Owner ( s ) Violet Bidwell ( 1960 -- 1962 ) Bill Bidwell ( 1962 -- 1987 ) General manager Larry Wilson ( 1977 -- 1987 ) Head coach Gene Stallings ( 1986 -- 1987 ) Team history Chicago Cardinals ( 1920 -- 1943 ), ( 1945 -- 1959 ) Card - Pitt ( 1944 ) St. Louis Cardinals ( 1960 -- 1987 ) Phoenix Cardinals ( 1988 -- 1993 ) Arizona Cardinals ( 1994 -- present ) Team nicknames Cardiac Cards, Big Red, Football Cardinals Championships League championships ( 0 ) Conference championships ( 0 ) Division championships ( 2 ) NFC East : 1974, 1975 Playoff appearances ( 3 ) NFL : 1974, 1975, 1982 Home fields Sportsman 's Park ( 1960 -- 1965 ) Busch Memorial Stadium ( 1966 -- 1987 ) The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in St. Louis, Missouri from 1960 to 1987. This article chronicles the team 's history during their time as the St. Louis Cardinals. Chicago Cardinals owner Violet Bidwill had married St. Louis businessman Walter Wolfner in 1949, two years after inheriting the team from her late first husband, Charles Bidwill. When it became obvious that the Cardinals could no longer hope to compete with the Chicago Bears, a move to St. Louis seemed to make sense. The NFL conducted a survey of St. Louis, and concluded that it was capable of supporting a team. The league 's 12 owners unanimously approved the move, ending their 62 - year stay in Chicago. During the Cardinals ' tenure in St. Louis, they were called the `` Big Red '', the `` Football Cardinals '', or `` the Gridbirds '' in order to avoid confusion with the baseball team They shared Sportsman 's Park with the baseball team. However, St. Louis had not had a professional football team since the early days of the NFL, and tickets were difficult to sell. The Cardinals initially held practices in the city park. Their first home game was a loss to the Giants on October 2, 1960, and they finished the year at 6 -- 5 -- 1. In 1961, they broke even at 7 -- 7 -- 0 ( the NFL had expanded to a 14 - game season to compete with the upstart AFL ) and fell to 4 -- 9 -- 1 in 1962. Improving to 9 -- 5 -- 0 in 1963, the Cardinals almost reached the playoffs, but a loss to the Giants prevented that. During the Cardinals ' 28 - year stay in St. Louis, they advanced to the playoffs just three times ( 1974, 1975 & 1982 ), never hosting or winning in any appearance. In spite of what was considered lackluster performance in St. Louis, their overall record there ( winning 187 games, losing 202, and 13 ties ) ( a winning percentage of. 481 ) is easily the highest winning percentage for any of the three locations that the Cardinals have been associated with. Contents 1 1960 - 1975 : St. Louis gets a team 1.1 1960s 1.2 Early 1970s 2 1974 - 1978 : Top Dogs 3 1978 - 1985 : Decline 4 Final seasons in St. Louis 5 The NFL returns to St. Louis 6 See also 7 References 1960 - 1975 : St. Louis gets a team 1960s The St. Louis football Cardinals were competitive for much of the 1960s. New stars emerged in Larry Wilson, Charley Johnson, Jim Bakken, Sonny Randle, and Jim Hart. Violet Bidwill Wolfner died in 1962, and her sons, Bill and Charles, Jr. took control. Although the Cardinals were competitive in the ' 60s, they failed to achieve a playoff appearance during the decade. In 1964, the Bidwills considered moving the team to Atlanta. They wanted a new stadium, and that city was planning the construction of one. However, St. Louis persuaded them to stay with the promise of a stadium -- what would become Busch Memorial Stadium ( a new expansion team, the Falcons, was eventually created for Atlanta, and a St. Louis team would move to Atlanta -- the NBA Hawks in 1968 ). The Cardinals got off to a good start, and tied the Cleveland Browns 33 -- 33 on the road. They finished 9 -- 4 -- 1 and second in the Eastern Conference, but a victory by the Browns over the New York Giants denied them a playoff berth. The team finished the year with a meaningless win over the Packers. A 4 -- 1 -- 0 start to the 1965 season evaporated into a 5 -- 9 -- 0 finish. In 1966, the Cardinals were in first place in the Eastern Conference with an 8 -- 2 -- 1 record, but a loss to the Dallas Cowboys, who went on to win the conference title, started a three - game losing streak to end the season, leaving St. Louis at 8 -- 5 -- 1. Another mediocre season followed in 1967, with six wins, seven losses, and one tie. In 1968, the Cardinals swept the Cleveland Browns and ended the year with a 9 -- 4 -- 1 mark, but a loss to San Francisco 49ers club and a tie against the woeful Pittsburgh Steelers kept the Cardinals out of the playoffs. St. Louis fell back to 4 -- 9 -- 1 in 1969, but that season saw the debut of Roger Wehrli, a star safety at the University of Missouri who played 14 seasons for the Cardinals and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007. Early 1970s In 1970, the Cardinals were placed in the new NFC East division following the merger with the AFL. They posted three consecutive shutouts in November, blanking the Houston Oilers, Boston Patriots, and the Cowboys, the last of those victories coming 38 - 0 on Monday Night Football in the Cotton Bowl. But St. Louis collapsed down the stretch, losing December games to the New York Giants, Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins to finish 8 -- 5 -- 1 and out of the playoffs. The Cardinals then regressed to three consecutive 4 -- 9 -- 1 seasons from 1971 - 73. Bill Bidwill became sole owner in 1972 and still owns the team. Only the New York Giants and Chicago Bears have been in the hands of one family longer than the Cardinals. Larry Wilson retired following the 1972 season, and in 1973, Don Coryell, who built a powerhouse program at San Diego State, became head coach. The Cardinals registered a 7 -- 0 -- 0 record to open the 1974 season and won the NFC East championship -- their first division or conference title since their unsuccessful title defense of 1948 -- on the strength of a season sweep of the Redskins. However, due to the NFL 's unusual system in which the division champions rotated between home - field advantage, the Cardinals lost a chance to host a first - round playoff game since it was the NFC East champion 's turn to go on the road. 1974 - 1978 : top dogs In the franchise 's first playoff game since 1948, St. Louis took an early 7 -- 0 lead against the Minnesota Vikings in Bloomington, Minnesota, but a missed field goal just before halftime sapped the Cardinals ' momentum. The Vikings scored 16 points in the first seven minutes of the second half and cruised to a 30 -- 14 victory. The Cardinals won the NFC East again in 1975, but were again locked out of playing at home in the first round because they were the lowest - seeded division champion. The playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams was a disaster : Lawrence McCutcheon set an NFL playoff record by rushing for 202 yards, and Jack Youngblood and Bill Simpson returned interceptions for touchdowns, staking the Rams to a 28 -- 9 halftime lead en route to a 35 -- 23 victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. During this period, the Cardinals boasted an effective offense in the wake of a record - setting offensive line which included standouts Jim Hart, Dan Dierdorf, Conrad Dobler, and Tom Banks. This period for the franchise was characterized by exciting close games, come - from - behind nailbiters, and several frustrating near - misses. The press and league fans began to call the team the `` Cardiac Cardinals ''. Team stars from the 1970s included Wehrli, wide receiver Mel Gray, and running backs Terry Metcalf and Jim Otis. On Thanksgiving Day, 1976, the Cardinals suffered a controversial loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Cardinals tight end J.V. Cain, running an apparent game - winning route, was shoved out of the end zone by Dallas defensive backs Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters in what appeared to be obvious interference, but a penalty was not called. With this loss, the Cardinals were dethroned from the divisional lead and became the first NFC team to reach 10 wins without qualifying for the playoffs. Ultimately, the Redskins ' sweep of the season series kept them out of the playoffs. In 1977, the Cardinals started slowly but won 6 consecutive games before losing the Thanksgiving Day game to the Miami Dolphins, 55 -- 14. Bob Griese 's record - setting day turned out to be the first of 12 straight losses for the Cardinals ( extending into 1978 ), a streak which included being only the second team ever to lose to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the first to lose in Tampa Stadium. Coryell and several key players, including Dobler and Metcalf, departed the team at the end of the 1977 season. 1978 - 1985 : decline For the 1978 season, Bidwill hired Bud Wilkinson, famous for building a football dynasty in 17 seasons at the University of Oklahoma. But Wilkinson, who had been out of coaching since retiring from the Sooners following the 1963 season, could not turn the Cardinals around. St. Louis started 1978 with eight straight losses and finished at 6 - 10, and Wilkinson was fired in 1979 with the Cardinals at 3 - 10 and last in the NFC East. Wilkinson was canned by Bidwill for refusing to bench quarterback Jim Hart in favor of rookie Steve Pisarkiewicz. Larry Wilson, the Pro Football Hall of Fame safety who starred for the Cardinals for 13 seasons, coached the final three games of the 1979 season, finishing with a 5 - 11 record. The Cardinals experienced several years of notoriously poor drafts and unfortunate personnel moves in the late 1970s, typified by the first - round selection of kicker Steve Little, who was paralyzed in a 1980 automobile accident, and hiring Wilkinson in 1978. The team also suffered a tragic loss during 1979 training camp when Cain died of a heart attack. The Cardinals playing against the Packers in the 1982 NFC First Round Playoff game. However, the Cardinals had some success in the early 1980s, posting three consecutive winning seasons from 1982 to 1984. The heart of this squad was the prolific trio of quarterback Neil Lomax, wide receiver Roy Green, and running back Ottis Anderson. Stellar performances by Anderson could not salvage the Cardinals ' 1980 and 1981 campaigns, which ended at 5 -- 11 and 7 -- 9, respectively. In 1982, the Cardinals qualified for the expanded 16 - team playoff field with a 5 -- 4 mark in the strike - shortened year, but fell 41 -- 16 to the Green Bay Packers. St. Louis finished 1983 at 8 -- 7 -- 1, including victories over the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks, who lost to the Raiders in the AFC championship game. The Cardinals entered the final weekend of 1984 with a chance to win the NFC East by defeating the Redskins, but Neil O'Donoghue missed a game - winning field goal at the gun, giving Washington a 29 -- 27 victory and the division championship. St. Louis started 1985 3 -- 1, but finished 5 -- 11, leading to the termination of coach Jim Hanifan after six seasons. Hanifan would return triumphantly to St. Louis 14 years later, serving as offensive line coach during the St. Louis Rams ' Super Bowl championship season in 1999. Final seasons in St. Louis Gene Stallings, formerly the head coach at Texas A&M and a long - time assistant to Tom Landry with the Cowboys, replaced Hanifan. The Cardinals finished 4 -- 11 -- 1 in 1986, but improved to 7 -- 8 in 1987, falling just one win shy of the playoffs, losing 21 -- 16 on the final Sunday of the season to the Cowboys. The 1987 season is remembered for a stunning comeback, rallying from a 28 -- 3 deficit against the Buccaneers by scoring 28 points in the fourth quarter for a 31 -- 28 victory. It remains the largest fourth - quarter comeback in NFL history. The overall mediocrity of the Cardinals, combined with an old stadium, caused game attendance to dwindle, and once again the Bidwills decided to move the team, this time to either Baltimore, Phoenix, or Jacksonville. Nonetheless, Cardinals fans were unhappy at losing their team, and Bill Bidwill, fearing for his safety, stayed away from several of the 1987 home games. Their last home game was on December 13, 1987, in which the Cardinals won 27 - 24 over the New York Giants in front of 29,623 fans on a late Sunday afternoon. On March 16, 1988, the NFL team owners voted to allow Bidwill to move the Cardinals from St. Louis to Phoenix, Arizona for the 1988 NFL season. The NFL returns to St. Louis The NFL returned to St. Louis in 1995, when the Los Angeles Rams relocated there. The Cardinals and Rams became divisional rivals in 2002 after the NFL realigned from six divisions to eight ; this meant that the Cardinals, now in the NFC West, would play one game in St. Louis annually until the 2015 season, when the Rams announced that they were relocating in 2016 to Los Angeles for the second time ( the first being from Cleveland in 1946 ) which meant St. Louis became the first city to have lost two NFL teams that have relocated to the Western United States and to larger media markets ( Phoenix and Los Angeles respectively ). See also History of the St. Louis Rams References Jump up ^ Wyche, Steve ( June 29, 2011 ). `` Before coming to desert, Cards were substandard in St. Louis ''. National Football League. Retrieved September 26, 2016. Jump up ^ Harris, Cliff ; Waters, Charlie ( 2003 ). Tales from the Dallas Cowboys. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1 - 58261 - 385 - 0. Jump up ^ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198712130crd.htm Jump up ^ Eskenazi, Gerald ( March 16, 1988 ). `` N.F.L. Approves Team Shift ''. The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2016. Arizona Cardinals Founded in 1898 Played in Chicago ( 1920 -- 59 ), St. Louis ( 1960 -- 87 ), and formerly the Phoenix Cardinals ( 1988 -- 93 ) Based in Glendale, Arizona Headquartered in Tempe, Arizona Franchise History in Chicago in St. Louis Seasons Head coaches Players Quarterbacks First - round draft picks Stadiums Normal Park Comiskey Park Forbes Field Soldier Field Busch Stadium Busch Memorial Stadium Sun Devil Stadium University of Phoenix Stadium Culture Charles Bidwill Bill Bidwill Cheerleaders Big Red ( mascot ) Jerry Maguire `` A Tale of Two Springfields '' ( The Simpsons episode ) Lore 1925 Chicago Cardinals -- Milwaukee Badgers scandal 1925 NFL Championship controversy Card - Pitt Million Dollar Backfield 2006 game vs. Chicago Bears Rivalries Kansas City Chiefs Division championships ( 7 ) 1947 1948 2008 2009 2015 Conference championships ( 1 ) 2008 League championships ( 2 ) 1925 1947 Retired numbers 8 40 77 88 99 Current league affiliations League : National Football League Conference : National Football Conference Division : West Division Seasons ( 98 ) 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 1985 1986 2017 Championship seasons in bold Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_St._Louis_Cardinals_(NFL)&oldid=810073144 '' Categories : History of the Arizona Cardinals St. Louis Cardinals ( football ) Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from January 2017 All articles needing additional references Use mdy dates from November 2013 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 13 November 2017, at 05 : 47. 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Question: when did the st louis cardinals move to arizona
Answer: 1987