ST. LOUIS – Thirty-eight years later, reasons for a turnaround are as elusive for Jim Hart as Terry Metcalf's cleats were to lead-footed linebackers. Thirty-eight years later, the St. Louis Cardinals' 7-0 start after three consecutive 4-9-1 seasons stands as proof of magic in blind belief.
"The games we were losing in the fourth quarter in '73, we were winning in the fourth quarter in '74," said Hart, the Cardinals' former quarterback, speaking from his home in Naples, Fla. "Can you put your finger on why that is? I have no idea. … You kind of looked around and said, 'Whoa, I think something is happening here.'"
What happened? St. Louis won the NFC East with a 10-4 record, earning the franchise's first postseason berth since the Chicago Cardinals cracked the playoffs in the 1948 campaign. More than nine games were won in the regular season for the first time since going 11-1 in '48 under Jimmy Conzelman.
What happened? The "Big Red" offensive attack, gassed by Hart's right arm and Metcalf's legs (718 yards rushing with six touchdowns), turned defenses into Swiss cheese under coach Don Coryell – averaging 20.4 points per game, a total that ranked ninth in the NFL. The Cardinals scored 23 or more points eight times, before losing to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC divisional round.
What happened? Players bought into Coryell's vision, a leap of faith that took a grin and a prayer. To that point, the Cardinals had never made more than a five-game improvement from one year to the next since moving to St. Louis in 1960. But after the '73 season, Hart recalls the coach saying, "Hey guys, we're a better football team than 4-9-1, and we will turn it around. You just have to have faith that it's going to happen and know that somebody is going to come up with the big play."
Eureka.
"Each game that we seemed to be behind in the second half, Don Coryell moved up and down the sideline and singled out players," said Hart, who threw for 2,411 yards with 20 touchdowns in the regular season that year. "Coming across (cornerback) Roger Wehrli, he'd say, 'Roger, I think you're going to intercept this ball,' … (He was) just planting the seeds of positive things happening, and all of the sudden they did. Toward the end of the seven-game streak, we expected to win. That's how the good teams are. They expect to win. That's just how things happened back then."
Fast-forward to 2012, past a choice to bolt to the desert in 1988, and that strap-and-go drive is back for the brutes in red and white.
On Thursday, Arizona will try to extend a history lesson. The Cardinals, 4-0 for the first time since 1974, face the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome as an unlikely early-season swan.
They've become the NFL's Houdini. The Cardinals are one of three undefeated teams despite ranking 31st in total offense (271 yards per game), 29th in rush offense (68 yards per game) and 25th in pass offense (203 yards per game). They beat the Seattle Seahawks late, they almost blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead against the New England Patriots, they blew out the Philadelphia Eagles by 21, and they blew minds by skirting past the Miami Dolphins in overtime despite trailing by 13 at the break.
"They've had some transition in the past couple years – (Anquan) Boldin leaving, (Kurt) Warner retiring, that quarterback situation still being unsettled, although Kevin Kolb looks like he's going to be the answer," Hart said. "They've had some unrest there. Defense, though, appears to have improved a great deal to the point where they are able to stop people at will and make things happen. You can say all you want about offensive football. But you've got to stop people, and you've got to get them the ball in good field position like the Cardinals have done in recent weeks."
Pack away the weak-kneed NFC West perceptions. The Cardinals' rise – paired with the Rams' 2-2 start – shows the former throw-pillow division can throw a few mean swings.
Teams are a combined 8-0 at home. The group has produced 11 victories – an improvement from five at this time last year. Other than the NFC East, it's the only division without at least one team with one victory or a goose egg in the "W" column.
There's edge in the former NFC Least. There's attitude. There's a sense that this race won't devolve into the San Francisco 49ers Invitational, chaired by coach Jim Harbaugh, like most pundits thought when training camps broke in August.
"You establish rivalries, but I wouldn't imagine we have one based on past history over the last four or five years," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said of the Cardinals. "We haven't had much a rivalry with anybody, so we have to work toward that and that comes from having competitive, great games and close games."
That would be good for a little 'Lou nostalgia. The 1974 season began a three-year streak that saw the Cardinals bulldoze foes, producing 31 victories and two NFC East titles. The stretch secured Coryell's place as one of the franchise's most innovative minds, a fountain of hope after the drought that followed former coaches Pop Ivy and Wally Lemm, Charley Winner and Bob Hollway since the move from Chicago.
"The chemistry was outstanding," Hart said of 1974.
Something memorable happened that year. Something great.
You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.
