Red Rising: Arizona Cardinals Will Win It All

In 1948, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Chicago Cardinals in the NFL Championship Game by a final of 7-0. 

60 years, two Cardinals re-locations, and one merged league later, these teams met again for the conference championship. 

This time the team, once located in Chicago and St. Louis but now representing the Arizona desert, defeated the Eagles to earn its first-ever Super Bowl berth.

Come February 1, this franchise will be ridiculed no more as they will be crowned world champions over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

First off, what more can one say about Kurt Warner?  Here's a quarterback who seemed to have seen better days by the time he joined Arizona.  Even going into this year's playoffs, surely a 9-7 team led by a passer who hadn't been a household name in some time couldn't accomplish anything. 

Yeah, he had shown improvement—but come on, this is the Arizona Cardinals we're talking about here.

All that skepticism went away against Philadelphia.  On Super Bowl Sunday, he will be the third-oldest quarterback to ever start the Big Game.  History is on his side, though.  The two players in front of him, John Elway and Johnny Unitas, both won their starts.

Warner does have a big target, and his name is Larry Fitzgerald.  With 152 receiving yards against Philadelphia, he set an NFL record for the most reception yards in one postseason, passing Jerry Rice in 1988.  He also caught three of Warner's four touchdown passes.

This duo most demonstrated its effectiveness in the second quarter of the NFC Championship Game during a flea-flicker when Warner connected with Fitzgerald for a 62-yard touchdown.  Warner still has his arm and Fitzgerald continues to impress.

Besides the flea-flicker though, the play-action has proven to be just as dangerous.  On Sunday, Warner was a perfect 4-4 when running it, and it was responsible for two of his touchdown passes.

Defensively, the MVP for the Cardinals this season is their longest tenured member:  strong safety Adrian Wilson, who will be heading to the Pro Bowl along with Warner.  After a bad 2007, he bounced right back in 2008 with 75 regular-season tackles.

If the Cardinals are to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy, they're going to have to do a couple things correctly.

Kurt Warner has been consistent thus far, but a tough Steelers defense is definitely going to give him fits.  That tough Pittsburgh secondary will do everything in its power to cover Larry Fitzgerald and every other target out there, but Fitzgerald has created opportunities for himself the entire postseason and would love a challenge from someone like Troy Polamalu.

The Cardinals also need to do a better job holding the lead if they get it.  Remember, the Eagles rebounded from a 24-6 halftime deficit for 19 unanswered points.  Kurt Warner can't do it all, so he needs help on the other side of the ball.  Karlos Dansby and Adrian Wilson will be counted on the most to prevent an impressive Steeler offense from reaching the end zone.

That said, it should be a great game.  Like Peyton Manning did with the Bears two years ago, Warner should be able to find holes in Pittsburgh's defense.  When he does, he'll have his second Super Bowl ring.

Final Score:  Arizona 16, Pittsburgh 13