metalmanalishi: Absolutely correct. Not only the NFC East but man what about the top 3 teams in the AFC Central in 75. Steelers 12-2 Bengals 11-3, Oilers 10-4. You had two 10-4 teams that year that didn't make the playoffs. Awesome '70's football.
The 1964 team was 9-3-2 and missed first place in the East by a half game. Back then it was the Browns that were their main rival. The 1960s also had a couple other good years in 1963 and 1968 but that 1964 season was a near miss. Charley Johnson was quarterback. I remember I was just old enough to start following Sporta teams their first year in St. Louis in 1960.
@@howardcosell2022 I looked it up and makes sense but bet when they went to divisions they were keeping some rivalries. I thought it odd in the 1960s the Baltimore Colts were in the West and not the East. I looked it up and those NFC Central teams all came from the West. The original Chicago Cardinals were in the East.
@@larryloveless2967 Despite leaving Chicago in 1959, the Cardinals still had an underlying rivalry with the Bears. Due to the location of St Louis as a mid-western city, they would have had territorial rivalries with Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota as well. If the Cardinals were placed in the Central back in 1970, there would still be football in St Louis
This was their one chance their chance to do something and sadly they didn't. The window closed real quick in 1976 and other than quick playoff exit in 1982, their last best chance was in 1984 where they just couldn't win in RFK on the last day against the Redskins. The Cardinals wouldn't win in RFK until 1993.
Let's face it. The Rams were just an all around incredible team - especially that fast defensive front, with Jack Youngblood and Fred Dryer. Cardinals had a tremendous season - best ever, with 11 wins. The Jets, "played over their heads," because, as bad as they were, they weren't quitting. That's Character, from their players.
This St. Louis team wasn't as talented as the 1968 and 1970 teams coached by Charlie Winner, but they knew how to win, while the other two couldn't win in the clutch.
The mid 1970s wih Don Coryell as coach were sure exciting with the Cardiac Cardinals. I remember this era and in the 1960s with Charley Johnson as quarterback who was interviewed in this video having some near misses with the Browns in the East. Dallas kept improving each year but that 1970 Monday Night Football 38-0 win over Dallas was sure a good night. Former Dallas quarterback Don Meredith who was an announcer just could not stand the sight of it. The best era however was still years away with the Kurt Warner Rams for St. Louis.
what a powerful team the Cards were. two pro-bowlers on the offensive line. Mel Gray - with Hart throwing the long bombs - ... well Gray just outdistanced everyone.
The only thing the Cardinals did in the 1970s was beat an 8-0 Cowboys team in 1977 on MNF in Dallas 24-17 as the Cowpokes went on to bust the Broncos in SB XII. And then there were the 1st round playoff blunders in '74 and '75 and losing out to the Redskins within the division in '76. By '77 it was all over for Air Coryell (one of my favorites). We Don's need to stick together. RIP
