Arizona Cardinals Reach the Super Bowl for the First Time in the Team's History

There is no questioning the talent on the Arizona Cardinals, with quite possibly the best receiving core of all-time with Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald on either side of quarterback Kurt Warner. But in the begining of the season, in week one, the Cardinals seemed to be a mess with a quarterback controversy brewing to a boiling point.

Some people say that Matt Leinart was the best quarterback college football history while playing for Pete Carroll at USC. With a Heisman trophy and a couple BCS championships on his resume it would be hard to argue that he isn't, but being a great quarterback in college doesn't always mean that they will be a great quarterback on the next level in the NFL.

When Leinart came into the NFL he had all the offensive weapons in Arizona to continue being the elite quarterback he was at USC. With both Fitzgerald and Boldin to throw to and Edgerrin James out of the backfield, Leinart was poised for success. But that didn't exactly happen as planned and he struggled to adjust to the pro game.

Once a second unsuccessful season went by and the start to a third bad season came along the Cardinals turned to a proven winner in two time MVP and Super Bowl champion Kurt Warner to be their starting quarterback.

Some thought that Warner was over the hill and for good reason, but not long after Warner took over as starting quarterback for Arizona, the Cardinals started to look like a serious threat in the NFC.

As the season progressed with everyone anticipating Warner breaking down or showing signs of his age at some point during the season he did just the opposite and proved all his doubters wrong by leading his underdog Cardinals to the Super Bowl for the first time in the team's history.

Throughout the playoffs the Cardinals haven't been favored in any match up they have been in. First it was the young and talented Atlanta Falcons who had a solid running game and were lead by a rookie quarterback who made few mistakes, but once the two got on the field the Cardinals showed how young the Falcons really were and advanced onto the next round to face the NFC powerhouse Carolina Panthers.

The Panthers seemed to be on their way to Super Bowl as they had established a great one-two punch in their running game and had arguably the best wide receiver threat in the playoffs with Steve Smith, but once again, when they took the field the Panthers weren't even a challenge for the veteran Cardinals and they advanced to the NFC Championship game against Donovan McNabb's Philadelphia Eagles.

Coming into this match up the Eagles were arguably the hottest team in the NFL filled with nothing but confidence on both sides of the football after destroying both NFC East rivals Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants to get to the NFC Championship game.

Although this game was pretty much in the books in the third quarter after Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald connected for three touchdowns, McNabb lead his Eagles from behind to take the lead in classic Eagles fashion. After the Eagles took the lead the Cardinals kicked it into another gear and dominated the Philly with suffocating defense and a flawless offense to regain the lead and eventually win their first NFC Championship.

The Cardinals did come into the playoffs as the biggest underdog to reach the Super Bowl, but after the first round win they never looked back will face their biggest challenge yet against a very talented defense in the biggest game of their lives in Super Bowl XLIII.