The NFL odds makers aren’t putting a whole lot of faith in the Arizona Cardinals this year and it’s fairly evident why they wouldn’t. If history is a good indication, then the Cardinals won’t be back in the playoffs and they won’t even be back over .500.
The sportsbook odds makers only need to take a look at how the NFC teams have fared after their Super Bowl appearances to gauge how the fluky Cardinals will do.
After the Giants Super Bowl run in 2000, they dropped to 7-9 in 2001. More recently, after the Panthers finished 11-5 in 2003, they fell back to 7-9 in 2004. After the Philadelphia Eagles went 13-3 in 2004, they finished 6-10 in 2005. And the Chicago Bears, who went to the Super Bowl in 2006 with a 13-3 record, dropped to 7-9 the following year.
The Cardinals are likely to experience a similar drop for a number of reasons.
On the sidelines, they lost their offensive and defensive coordinators who both left to Kansas City. On the field, the Cardinals didn’t do a whole lot to make a 9-7 team much better.
History isn’t on starting quarterback Kurt Warner’s side either. Warner played in all 16 games for his contract season last year but in the past, Warner has been fairly injury prone. He’s missed time in every season but one, which was all the way back in 2001, which was the last time that he played a full 16-game season.
The Cardinals weren’t that good of a team to begin with but they caught fire last year. Their division figures to be much stronger this year, which is why they aren’t among many sports picks to win it again.
Overall, the Cardinals won just nine games last year and six of those wins came in the division. The Cards didn’t even win a road game outside of the division.
Given that their 2008 season seemed fluky and the fact that history is not on their side, look for the Cardinals to come back down to Earth in 2009.