Arizona Cardinals-Pittsburgh Steelers: Which Team Is More Worthy?

Who deserves this title the most?

The Arizona Cardinals, with their Cinderella story, going to their first Super Bowl in franchise history?

Or the Pittsburgh Steelers, the supposed "working man's team," attempting to win their unprecedented sixth Super Bowl championship.

My opinion

Arizona Cardinals hands down.

And I'm not talking about which team is better. All around, Pittsburgh's team as a whole is a better unit. Arizona's defense all season has been down right horrible at times. They couldn't run the ball to save their lives. Luckily, they had Kurt Warner at quarterback to win games for them.

The Steelers' offense was average, but their top-ranked defense won many a game for them. But looking back at this season, were the Steelers that good?

Starting this year, the Steelers were cursed with one of the hardest schedules in the league, according to last year's records. It's funny how tough that schedule looks now though, at the end of the year. Not quite so hard after all.

Eight of Pittsburgh's 12 wins came against teams with a winning % of .500 or lower. The Eagles, Giants, Colts, and Titans all handed the Steelers a loss, and most likely would have in the postseason, if any of these teams would have gotten the chance to.

Arizona wasn't much better in the regular season though. Seven of their nine victories came against teams with a winning % of .500 or lower. And they finished with three fewer wins than Pittsburgh. Only four of their losses were to playoff teams, but it could be argued New England and the Jets were pretty close.

Everyone wants to talk about how easy the Cardinals had it, getting to play six games against the 'Niners, Rams, and Seahawks. Every NFL would love to play in that division right now.

But Pittsburgh was awfully close: Bengals twice, Browns twice, and yes Baltimore. Unfortunately for the Ravens, their lack of offense keeps any opponent in a game. But hats off to Pittsburgh to taking them out all three times.

By season's end, Pittsburgh was the better team. Any football fan would admit that. In fact, most would even say Arizona was easily at the bottom of the weakest teams in the playoffs.

I'm a big Kurt Warner fan, but even I scoffed at them each playoff round, continuously picking them to go down in playoffs pools. All they did was make a believer out of me.

If Pittsburgh wins this Super Bowl, they should be handed, along with the Lombardi Trophy, a second trophy, for the easiest championship ever won, by who they had to beat along the way.

After a first-round bye, they got to play the lowly San Diego Chargers, who they only managed to squeak a victory out against in the regular season, 11-10. That's sad.

They beat them more convincingly in the playoff game, 35-24, but who expected any different, they were 8-8 for crying out loud! While the 11-5 Patriots were sitting at home, an 8-8 team was in the playoffs.

That's nothing short of embarrassing for an NFL team. Yet amazingly, that same 8-8 team took down the streaking Colts, who looked to be on their way to a second championship.

So the Steelers managed to avoid the Colts. Well, at least the Titans would take them down for the second time... oh wait, no, they managed to choke against the Ravens. While the Titans' defense shut down the Ravens' offense, they also decided to turn the ball over three times, sealing the deal.

So the Steelers also avoid the Titans, and instead get to play the Ravens team again, which a few high school teams have a better offense than. Wow, welcome to the Super Bowl Pittsburgh. That was a tough road, huh?

Now Arizona on the other hand, has earned every playoff victory they've won. Even a blind man could see that. They've had me in awe these last three weeks.

While Big Ben finished the regular season with a lousy 80.2 rating, 17 TD's, and 15 INT's, Kurt Warner has compiled 30 TD's, 14 INT's, 4,583 yards, and a quarterback rating of 96.9. Not bad for the guy a lot of people thought wouldn't even be in the NFL at this point.

Head to head, Kurt Warner smokes Big Ben like a pack of Camels.

Big Ben already has a Super Bowl victory under his belt, that he didn't even earn. While his team beat Seattle, with some serious help from the refs, he gave the performance of his life: a 22.6 rating. Wow. Awesome Ben.

And in his two playoff games this year, he's put up a TD total of 1. Again, wow. What a leader. How did this guy get the $100 million contract?

Kurt Warner compiled eight TD's and two INT's in his three playoff games, where last week's game against Philly his quarterback rating was 145.7. That's just sick.

Their first playoff game they took down a very impressive Atlanta team. Some thought a fluke, since they had the rookie quarterback Matt Ryan at the helm. Okay, so maybe that win wasn't as impressive.

But what about Carolina? My god, they didn't just squeak by them, they flat out trounced them, 33-13. And Carolina's TD didn't even come until late in the fourth quarter. One of the most dominating games I saw this year. Pittsburgh should thank Arizona for removing another threat from the playoffs there.

And then last week, against one of the best defenses in the league, they managed to take out Philadelphia. The Eagles put up one heck of a fight the second half, and if not for Arizona's last drive, no one would even be talking about Arizona's Cinderella story.

But they did have that one last drive, and Hightower did punch it in on third down, to seal the victory. Very impressive. Warner continuously shows up when he's supposed to.

Pittsburgh had to have enjoyed seeing one of the 4 teams to hand them a loss this season, get wiped out in the NFC Championship game, yet again. Happy for you Pittsburgh, you managed to not have to face Philly either.

But Arizona EARNED it.

Are they a better team than Pittsburgh? No.

Is Arizona better than the Falcons, Carolina, or Philly? No, not in my opinion. But they had to go through them, and did, convincingly.

Is Pittsburgh better than Indianapolis, Tennessee, Philly, or Carolina? Nope. But it doesn't matter. They didn't have to play any of those teams. Instead they got to play an 8-8 team, followed by the lackluster offense of the Ravens, with a rookie quarterback.

Pittsburgh's a better team than Arizona, but last year, New England was better than the Giants, yet we saw how that turned out.

My biggest question was who has earned the trip to Tampa Bay more?

Clearly Arizona.

My hats off to them. What a playoff run they've had. I hope it continues for one more game.

There is no other team that deserves it more.