After years of losing, the Arizona Cardinals can finally be called winners. One of the NFL’s lowliest franchises will be playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 1 after upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 on Sunday in the NFC Conference Championship game. And that came after upset victories over Atlanta and Carolina in the playoffs. Thanks to the dangerous combination of quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals were able to stick it to the Eagles, who stuck it to them on Thanksgiving night in a 48-20 Philadelphia rout. Warner found Fitzgerald nine times for 152 yards and three touchdowns, including a 62-yarder that started with a pitch to J.J. Arrington, who lateraled it back to Warner. After blowing a 24-6 halftime lead, the Cardinals stayed poised enough to launch a 14-play, 72-yard drive for the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Rookie running back Tim Hightower kept the drive alive on 4th-and-1 from the Eagles 49, scampering around right end for a gain of six yards. Eight plays later, Warner hit Hightower with an eight-yard touchdown pass, and the two-point conversion pass made it 32-25 with 2 minutes and 53 seconds to play. Arizona held on, earning its first Super Bowl appearance, after playing in the franchise’s first championship game since 1948. With just two winning regular seasons since 1985, it was hard to believe that the Cardinals would be playing for the NFL’s most-prized trophy. “I want to say thanks to all of you guys,” Warner told the home crowd in Glendale, Ariz. “When nobody else believed in us, when nobody else believed in me, you guys did, and we’re going to the Super Bowl.” Steelers defense keys return to Super Bowl: The Pittsburgh Steelers have won with defense all season, and it was a big defensive play at the end of Sunday’s AFC Conference Championship game that will send the Steelers to their second Super Bowl in four years. Leading 16-14, Steelers safety Troy Polamalu intercepted rookie Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco, returning it 40 yards for a touchdown with 4:24 left to play, giving Pittsburgh a 9-point lead and what would turn out to be the final 23-14 score. “They say defense wins championships. Well, we have the No. 1 defense. And they’re the reason why we’re really going to the Super Bowl,” said Steelers receiver Hines Ward of the defense that held the Ravens to just 198 total offensive yards.
