An Oddly Familiar Situation for Kurt Warner!

2008/2009 will be known as the year of the Cardinal as the Arizona Cardinals have gotten themselves their first Super Bowl appearance in team history and their first shot at the NFL crown since 1948.

For decades, the Cardinals have been laughing stocks of the NFL, as for the most part they have been a terrible team. Then, in 2007, the Arizona Cardinals got rid of coach Green and hired Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt.

The Cardinals had all the pieces in place for a Super Bowl run, a Running-back, great Wide- Receivers, and a young Heisman winning Quarterback but the problem was that their young gunslinger had not yet come into his own and he got injured. So who came to the Cardinals' rescue?

Two-time League MVP Kurt Warner, and he led them to an 8-8 record which was their best record since 1999., the same year that Kurt Warner first became a starter in the NFL.

So why is this situation familiar for Kurt Warner? well lets go back to the 1990's. the Rams where considered the worst team of that decade next to the Bengals and where never thought to be able to get anywhere near a Super Bowl.

Well, in 1997, coach Dick Vermil was hired by the Rams organization and went 9-23 in his first two seasons as their head coach. So here come 1999, the Rams get running-back Marshall Faulk, draft Wide receiver Torry Holt, and Quarterback Trent Green, and the optimism grew in St. Louis as they had a team that could actually go to a Championship.

One problem stood in their way as Quarterback Trent Green got injured in the third preseason game of the 1999 season and the Rams had to turn to the nobody Kurt Warner to take over their team. That year they went 13-3 and went to Super Bowl XXXIV.

So he goes to St. Louis and the prized Quarterback gets injured, so he takes over and leads them to a Super Bowl victory. He goes to Arizona and is benched in favor of rookie QB Matt Leinart, but gets the starting job back after Matt gets injured, and now leads the Cardinals to a Super Bowl.

Am I the only one who see's the similarities?

In 1999 he completed 325 of 499 passes for 4,353 yards, 41TD's and 13int's, this year he completed 401 of 598 passes for 4,583 yards, 30TD's and 14int's. In both situations, Kurt Warner took over for a team that didn't stand a chance and took advantage of high flying offenses to lead them to the big dance.

I see the outcome of this game going the same way it did for Warner the first time as he will lead the Cardinals to an upset over the Steelers as it will most likely come down to the wire.