Cards dealt first Super Bowl appearance

They we're doubted in the NFC Wild Card game against Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons, and the Cardinals won.

They we're heavily doubted against the second-seed Carolina Panthers, and not only did Arizona win, they won in dominating style.

They we're doubted against the resurgent Donovan McNabb and his Philadelphia Eagles.

I think you get the picture.

Sunday's 32-25 win over the favored Philadelphia Eagles snapped that streak giving the Cardinals their first NFC Championship in franchise history, and the franchise's first Super Bowl berth.

The win over Philly didn't come easy however. After starting red-hot in the first half, taking a 24-6 lead at half, the Cardinals sputtered offensively and allowed the Eagles to score 19 unanswered points on three consecutive possessions to go up 25-24 in the fourth quarter.

"That drive where we scored a touchdown at the end of the game and took seven minutes was really the difference," Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

That touchdown came off an eight-yard screen pass from Kurt Warner to rookie runningback Tim Hightower with 2:53 left in the game. Warner went 21-for-28, passing for 279 yards and four touchdowns, three of which went to star receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The 37-year old Warner is also now 3-0 in the NFC Championship game, winning in 1999 and 2001 with the St. Louis Rams, and now with the Arizona Cardinals.

Fitzgerald had nine catches for 152 yards and three touchdowns, all of which came in the first half. He also broke Jerry Rice's record for most receiving yards in the postseason with 419 yards.

Oh, and he still has the Super Bowl to go.

"And it was appropriate we had a bunch of different people make those plays, and it was a great team win for us," Whisenhunt said after the game. In his two seasons as head coach, he turned around the dismal Cardinal franchise from laughing stock of the league to, now, NFC Champions.

"It's been a tough number of years here in Arizona," Whisenhunt also admitted.

The NFL's motto this season is "Believe in now". Arizona did just that this season, especially when nobody else would.

This is not a mirage, the Arizona Cardinals are going to Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII.