Why Arizona Cardinals Will Be Back in the Super Bowl

What are your realistic 2009 season expectations for the team you’d like to cover? What will it take to exceed them, and what obstacles could cause the team to fall short?

I never really thought a coach made such a great difference in the outcomes of most football games, until the Cardinals acquired Coach Whisenhunt. Before then I would just blame the players and never really understood the important role that is played by the coaching staff.

All the years the Cardinals lost, I felt that the “Cardinal Curse” was contributing to the teams outcomes. People would always tell me that the Cardinals were great at finding ways to lose games. When games were within their reach somehow they would find a way to screw it up.

A lot of critics would blame the coaching staff in the past when the Cardinals would lose big games just like the Monday night Chicago Bears game a couple of years ago.

I never understood why people blamed Dennis Green so much, after all he didn’t punt the ball or miss a tackle when Devon Hester ran it back for a touchdown or fumble the ball like Matt Leinart when he got sacked.

Dennis Green was a good coach after all he did have a part in drafting Larry Fitzgerald, the point is he created a great team but the players were just not motivated by him. Dennis Green would come up with good game plans, called the right plays and made decisions and the players would not execute.

The Cardinals could have had a winning season that year, but lost too many close games where it wasn’t the coaching it was more of the players not being able to perform to their potential when they needed to.

So most of the time I hardly ever put the blame on the coaching staff except when they would call plays like passing the ball instead of running or not going for it on fourth down.

The Cardinals have always had talented players on the roster; the Detroit Lions have talent on their roster and are also capable of reaching the Super Bowl anyone in the league has the potential to make it to the Super Bowl as long as they have the perfect combination of ingredients distributed perfectly throughout the organization.

When Coach Whisenhunt took over he transformed almost the same exact team into the NFC Champions they became this year. Ken Whisenhunt is a great coach and is very talented at being able to motivate players he is the perfect fit for the Cardinals organization and as long as he is coach the Cardinals should continue to have very successful seasons no matter who they lose in the coaching staff or the roster.

He has a keen eye for talent and he brought in coaches to make a difference when he joined the organization and he will be able to fill those gaps easily. It is more than play calling its attitude adjustments, respect, and motivating the team to perform at their highest levels.

Aside from the coaching staff most of the players that were lost in the offseason are easily replaceable by players who saw what the Cardinals accomplished last season and realize that these aren’t the same old Cardinals and will be excited to contribute to a great team with a promising future.

My realistic expectations for the 2009 season for my team would be reaching the Super Bowl again. As long as the Cardinals make the playoffs then anything is possible they proved that this year. The only really team that will be much of a contender this year in the Cardinals division will be the 49ers.

It will take at least two years for Seattle and St. Louis to get it together again.

The Cardinals will have a tough schedule this year with opponents like Giants, Colts, Titans, Panthers, and Vikings but they play three of those games here and Cardinals almost always play better at home, so the Cardinals should finish the season at 12 wins and 4 losses reaching the Super Bowl and playing Titans.