Cards have long histories against Super Bowl teams, especially Eagles
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The Cardinals' Roderick Hood and Gabe Watson in the 2009 NFC championship game. Photo: Hunter Martin/Getty Images
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles have something in common other than making it to the 2023 Super Bowl — they both beat Arizona this season and have storied pasts with the Cardinals.
Eagles: The Cards' history with the Eagles goes back nearly nine decades, long before they were even in Arizona, and before they moved to St. Louis. The teams have been playing each other since the Cards were in Chicago.
- The Cardinals and Eagles first faced off on Nov. 10, 1935, which was a 12-3 Chicago victory, according to the Football Database.
- The Cards hold a slight edge in the 87-year rivalry, with a 60-57-5 record against Philadelphia.
- Thanks to a quirk, the teams were in the NFC East for 32 years — including, bizarrely, the Cards' first 14 years in Arizona — which explains why the Cards and Eagles have gone head to head so many times.
1 big win: Their biggest game in recent memory was in 2009, when the Cards beat Philly in the NFC championship, earning their first and only Super Bowl appearance.
- Technically, that wasn't the biggest game between the Cards and Eagles. They played twice for the old NFL championship in 1947 and 1948, with Chicago winning the first matchup and Philly taking the second.
- So it may have been two cities and 76 years ago, but the Cards beat the Eagles for their only championship in team history.
Flashback: The episode is largely forgotten, but for a moment nearly 40 years ago, it looked like the Philadelphia Eagles were going to become Arizona's NFL franchise instead of the St. Louis Cardinals.
- In December 1984, the Arizona Republic reported that cash-strapped Eagles owner Leonard Tose had agreed to sell a 25% stake in the team for $40 million to a Canadian real estate developer, with a promise to move the team to Phoenix.
- The city agreed to spend $2.5 million to build 25 luxury skyboxes at Veterans Stadium, which was enough for Tose to call off the proposed relocation.
- Tose sold the Eagles in 1985, and the Valley quickly shifted to St. Louis, where Cards owner Bill Bidwill veered toward moving his team to Arizona.
Chiefs: The Cards' record against the Chiefs is far less extensive because they played in different leagues until the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
- The Chiefs and the St. Louis Cardinals played for the first time the year of the merger in a game that ended in a 6-6 tie.
- They've played only 14 times since the merger, with the Chiefs leading the series at 10-3-1, according to Football Database.
Zoom out: As we noted last week, the Super Bowl champion will end the season with more wins at State Farm Stadium than the Cards because Arizona had one home win while both teams beat us in our own backyard.