Resiliency Becoming Arizona Cardinals' Trademark in Hunt for Super Bowl

To be a Super Bowl team, you must be resilient. Nobody ever has made and nobody ever will make a Super Bowl run without facing significant obstacles.

For example, the 2014 New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks both hit major early-season ruts before rebounding in time to make title runs, while the 2014 Arizona Cardinals had their championship quest destroyed by crippling second-half injuries.

You might recall that Cardinals team was as hyped as this one. It won nine of its first 10 games, but lost quarterback Carson Palmer to a torn ACL in November. Turned out, that obstacle was too large to overcome, and the Cards lost five of their final seven games, including a dud Wild Card Round defeat at the hands of the Carolina Panthers. 

This year, the Cardinals have been lucky enough to remain relatively healthy, especially at key positions. But instead, 8-2 Arizona has faced myriad situational hurdles of late. 

And yet the Cards—now coming off back-to-back prime-time victories over the Seattle Seahawks and Cincinnati Bengals—continue to win in big spots.

Week 10: They dig in and find a way to win on the road against one of the best home teams in football and the two-time defending NFC champions. And they do it despite blowing a 15-point second-half lead by allowing Seattle to score three touchdowns in a seven-minute span. 

Stephen Brashear/Associated Press

Week 11: They dig in and find a way to beat one of only three teams in football that had a better record than them entering the weekend. And they do it despite falling behind 14-7 in a flat, turnover-plagued first half. 

In the Week 10 victory over Seattle, they lost Pro Bowl guard Mike Iupati to an injury early on. In Week 11, they were without starting receiver Michael Floyd, who had 219 yards and three touchdowns in the previous two games.

And in both cases, they won anyway, defining resiliency.

They kept running sans Iupati in Seattle, and Chris Johnson managed 63 yards on the ground as the Cards completely controlled the tempo in a hostile environment. 

They kept taking shots sans Floyd at home against Cincinnati, and some 160-pound dude named J.J. Nelson (four catches, 142 yards and a touchdown) was their most productive receiver in a victory that saw Palmer and Co. come alive with three third-quarter touchdowns as well as two fourth-quarter scoring drives that came in the face of a furious Bengals comeback attempt. 

Category	With Carson Palmer	Without Palmer
Win-loss record	14-2	5-6
Points/game	30.7	16.5

"Just settled down, really," said Palmer following the game on NBC, modestly speculating as to what changed for his team in the second half. "Made two really stupid [first-half interceptions]. Just kind of got the jitters out and we got rolling."

You know how people say it's important for our children to make mistakes? Well, in the world of potential Super Bowl contenders, the Cards are a teenager with a ton of talent and ability. They get straight A's and have never been suspended from school or taken home in a cop car. 

Now, they've cut a few classes. They've been tempted by a bad crowd. They've gotten tipsy at a few parties. And yet they're still on the right track, having hopefully learned from their mistakes. 

We already knew the Cardinals could blow teams out of the water. They crushed the Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns earlier this year. And that was good for them, but even great teams like Arizona have to be aware of, and confident in, their ability to win ugly. 

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Because when January arrives, there'll be no more matchups with teams like Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit and Cleveland. In January, they'll have to dig in and find ways to win games that won't go their way from start to finish. 

The Cardinals did exactly that during this high-profile prime-time stretch against two of the NFL's most talented teams, and they're better off now. 

What's more, they're likely through the worst of it. The Cards have just two games remaining against teams that currently possess winning records. Because they currently own the tiebreaker with Seattle, they hold what is essentially a 3.5-game lead on their biggest threat/rival.

Barring a hell of a collapse, they'll win the NFC West for the first time since 2009, and with six games remaining, they possess an edge on the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers—who face tough schedules and are beating each other up—in the race for a first-round bye. 

Might they have won the NFC West and landed a bye with a loss last week or Sunday night? Sure, it's entirely possible. But what's important is the Cards now realize they can beat any given opponent at any given venue regardless of the circumstances. 

Their experiences the last two Sunday nights have made them undeniably aware of their mortality, while also confirming that they possess the talent and fortitude to overcome just about anything.  

That makes them dangerous. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon