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. The Steelers had jumped out to a 13-0 lead after Ben Roethlisberger’s 65-yard scoring pass to Santonio Holmes in the second quarter. Baltimore closed the gap to two points with 9:29 remaining in the game on Willis McGahee’s second TD run. Pittsburgh will now play in its seventh Super Bowl. The Steelers have won five Super Bowls, tying the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys for the most titles, and can become the first team to win six. StatsWatch: Now that Arizona has reached the Super Bowl for the first time, how many other teams have yet to do so? Here they are: • Cleveland Browns • Houston Texans • Jacksonville Jaguars • Detroit Lions • New Orleans Saints Quotable: “You could see the look in guys’ eyes. Nobody wanted to be the guy who let this team down. Everybody did their job when we needed them to do it.” – Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, on the game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter. Sidelines: The Pittsburgh Steelers started out as a 6½-point favorite to win the Super Bowl on Sunday night, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants. Although Arizona upset Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia in the NFC playoffs, the Cardinals will stay the underdog. Arizona was a 45-1 longshot to win the Super Bowl when the season began…The New York Jets reached an agreement on Monday with Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan to be their new head coach. Ryan, 46, will replace Eric Mangini, who was fired at the end of the season. Ryan is the son of former NFL head coach Buddy Ryan and the twin brother of Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan…Ravens running back Willis McGahee is expected to make a full recovery from head and neck injuries, the team said on Monday. McGahee suffered a helmet-to-helmet hit by Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark late in the AFC Conference Championship game on Sunday and was taken off the field on a stretcher. He was released from a Pittsburgh hospital the next day…Arizona is the first team with nine wins or fewer in the regular season to reach the Super Bowl in a non-strike season since the Los Angeles Rams in 1979.