Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
January 29, 2009, Washington Post

Can Cardinals Pull Off Upset at Super Bowl?

Okay: Anyone who picked the Arizona Cardinals to be in the Super Bowl before the 2008 National Football League season started last September, raise your hand.

Be honest. Hmmm. . . . I don't see many hands out there.

That's because almost no one, including me, thought the Cardinals would get near Super Bowl XLIII. The football experts at Sports Illustrated predicted the Cardinals would finish with a record of 6 wins and 10 losses. Going into Sunday's game, they have 12 wins and 7 losses.

So it's a shocker that Arizona is lining up against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa. After all, the Cardinals have not won an NFL championship since 1947, when they were the Chicago Cardinals. And the team has had one winning season since moving to Arizona from St. Louis in 1988.

So can the Cardinals pull off another upset and beat the mighty Steelers (14 wins, 4 losses), who are going for a record sixth Super Bowl championship? There are three reasons the Cardinals might surprise the Steelers.

Larry Fitzgerald: The Cardinals' star wide receiver has become the Tiger Woods of the NFL, a special player who is head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Fitzgerald caught 96 passes for 1,431 yards and 12 touchdowns during the season.

In the playoffs, he was even better. In three games, Fitzgerald grabbed 23 passes for 419 yards and five touchdowns. Even though the Steelers have the best defense in the NFL, they might have trouble stopping the fabulous Mr. Fitzgerald.

Kurt Warner: The Cardinals' veteran quarterback is used to the Super Bowl pressure. Warner was the most valuable player in Super Bowl XXXIV, when his St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans, 23-16, and Warner threw for more than 400 yards and two touchdowns.

Warner had a great 2008 season, completing 67 percent of his passes and throwing for more than 4,500 yards. At 37 years old, Warner is not very good at running away from tacklers, but he still has a strong, accurate throwing arm. If the Cardinals' offensive linemen give him enough time, Warner will find his talented receivers.

The weather: The forecast for Sunday in Tampa is for no rain, mild temperatures and very little wind. Why is that so important? Because the Cardinals and Kurt Warner love to throw the ball. If the weather is nice, instead of wet or windy, that will give the Cardinals a better chance to rack up some big plays through the air.

Do I really think the Cardinals will win? Nope. I think the Steelers will pull out a close one, 30-24.

But you'd better watch the game. Like everyone else, I've been wrong about the Cardinals before.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is an author of sports novels for kids. To listen to Fred Bowen talk about writing, go to http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/bookcast.

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