Super Bowl XLIII! The Idiot's Guide To

They were? I thought they were transplanted from St. Louis.

The Chicago Bears came into existence as the Decatur Staleys in 1920. Co-owners George Halas and Dutch Sternaman coached the team during that '20 season in Decatur, then moved the club to Chicago at the behest of A.E. Staley, owner of the Staley company. The following season, 1921, the Chicago Staleys won their first World Championship. The team continued on as the new National Football League fought for its survival through the decade, and in 1925 they pulled the coup of the league by signing Illinois standout Red Grange. Grange and the Bears embarked on a coast to coast "barnstorming tour" that year, introducing pro football to the masses. In 1929 Halas and Sternaman hired a new coach in Ralph Jones, who delivered another world championship in 1932. Halas again became head coach of the team in 1933, and the Bears won another title. In 1939, Halas began rebuilding the club again, drafting future stars in Sid Luckman and Bill Osmanski that year alone. The team embarked on its greatest run of championships the following year, winning titles in 1940, '41, '43 and '46. The Bears' record in this era was 223-76-33.
http://www.bearshistory.com/seasons/index.aspx

THE CARDINALS

What does the Morgan Athletic Club have in common with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals football team? The Morgan Athletic Club was started in 1898. It was the first name of what we now know to be the Arizona Cardinals. After that first moniker, they were known as the Normals, Racine Cardinals, Chicago Cardinals, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phoenix Cardinals, and finally became the Arizona Cardinals in 1994.

More Arizona Cardinals History and Facts
The Arizona Cardinals football team, and its predecessor teams, is the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the nation.
In 1922 the team moved to Chicago and played at Comiskey Park. The team played there for 37 years. In that same year the team joined the NFL. They called themselves the Chicago Cardinals.
In 1925 the NFL championship was still determined by the best record, and not by a playoff season. In that year the Cardinals were awarded their first NFL championship.
In 1933 a Vice President of the Chicago Bears named Charles W. Bidwell, Sr. bought the Cardinals. He paid $50,000 for the team.
Because of the war, the Cardinals combined with the Pittsburgh Steelers to play as one team in 1944. The team was called was called Card-Pitt.
The senior Mr. Bidwell died in 1947.
After many years of less-than-stellar performance, the Cardinals reclaimed the NFL championship title in 1947 but Mr Bidwell hadn't lived long enough to see it. This was the only time that the Cardinals won a championship by winning a championship title game. It was the NFL's 15th championship title game (it was not yet called the Super Bowl). The score was 28-21, and they defeated the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mrs. Violet Bidwell controlled the Cardinals for the next 15 years.
In 1960 the Cardinals moved to St. Louis.
In 1962 Mrs. Bidwell died leaving the Cardinals football team to her two sons, Charles W. Bidwill, Jr. and William V. Bidwill. In 1972 William Bidwell became the sole owner, and later in 1976 the team was incorporated.
In 1988 the Cardinals moved to Arizona under the name Phoenix Cardinals.
In their first season in Arizona the Cardinals achieved two records: one for single game attendance (vs. Cowboys in their inaugural Arizona game) and one for season attendance.
In 1994 William "Bill" Bidwell changed the name of the team to the Arizona Cardinals.
In 1998 the Arizona Cardinals finally ended the team's 15-year playoff drought and achieved their first postseason victory since 1947.
14 former Cardinals are in the Football Hall of Fame. They are: Charles Bidwill, Guy Chamberlin, Conzelman, Driscoll, Kiesling, Curly Lambeau, Dick "Night Train" Lane, Ollie Matson, Nevers, Jackie Smith, Jim Thorpe, Trippi, and Larry Wilson, who currently serves the Cardinals as a vice president.
In November 2000, voters in Maricopa County passed Proposition 302, the Tourism and Sports Initiative, to help fund a new stadium for the Cardinals, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and future Super Bowls, in addition to providing revenue for Cactus League spring training baseball, tourism, and youth recreation. It passed with 51.89% of the vote. The new stadium is scheduled to open in 2006.
2006 marked the debut of the Arizona Cardinals' new stadium in Glendale. Shortly after opening the stadium it was named the University of Phoenix Stadium. No more hot August and September nights! This stadium is an air-conditioned, state-of-the-art facility.
For only the third time in 20 seasons since moving to Arizona, and the first time since 1998, the Arizona Cardinals finished the 2007 season with 8 wins and 8 losses. A .500 record didn't get them to the playoffs this year.
Will next year be the year that we can finally move on from the lackluster performance of the past few years? Let's hope so! The next page has all the details you'll need to enjoy the games this year.
http://phoenix.about.com/cs/sportsteams/a/cardinals.htm

PITTSBURGH STEELERS

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are currently a member of the North Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Founded in 1933, the Steelers are the oldest and most championed franchise in the AFC. The team will appear in its seventh Super Bowl on February 1st 2009 and is one of three teams to have won the Super Bowl five times. They have hosted more conference championship games than any other NFL franchise. From 1974 to 1979 the franchise became the first NFL franchise to win four Super Bowl titles in six seasons, a feat which is yet to be matched. The 2005 team was the first sixth-seeded team in NFL history to advance to a conference championship game; they went on to win the game, followed by their latest Super Bowl victory on February 5, 2006.

The Steelers have had seventeen players and coaches inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the fourth most of any franchise in the NFL.[1] The fifth-oldest franchise in the NFL, the Steelers were founded as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8, 1933, by Art Rooney.[2] The ownership of the Steelers has remained within the Rooney family since its founding, and is arguably the best ownership in the NFL.[3] The current owner is Art's son, Dan Rooney, who has given much control of the franchise to his son Art Rooney II. The team also enjoys a fanbase nicknamed Steeler Nation, that is rivaled by few teams.[4]

The Steelers currently play their home games in Heinz Field on Pittsburgh's Northside, which also hosts the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Built in 2001, the stadium replaced Three Rivers Stadium which hosted the Steelers for 31 seasons. Prior to Three Rivers, the Steelers had played their games in Pitt Stadium and Forbes Field.

Franchise history
For more details on this topic, see History of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL first took to the field as the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20, 1933, losing 23-2 to the New York Giants.[5] Through the 1930s, the Pirates never finished higher than second place in their division, or with a record better than 0.500 (1936).[6] Pittsburgh did make history in 1938 by signing Byron White, a future justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to what was at the time the biggest contract in NFL history,[7] but he played only one year with the Pirates before signing with the Detroit Lions.[8]

During World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises to field a team. During the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the "Phil-Pitt Eagles" and were known as the "Steagles." This team went 5-4-1. In 1944 they merged with the Chicago Cardinals and were known as Card-Pitt (or, mockingly, as the "Carpets").[7] This team finished 0-10, marking the only winless team in franchise history.[9]

The Steelers made the playoffs for the first time in 1947, tying for first place in the division at 8-4 with the Philadelphia Eagles. This forced a tie-breaking playoff game at Forbes Field, which the Steelers lost 21-0.[10] That would be Pittsburgh's only playoff game for 25 years, though the Steelers did qualify for a "Playoff Bowl" in 1963 as the second best team in their conference, though not considered an official playoff.[11]

In 1970, with the assimilation of the American Football League into the National Football League, the Pittsburgh Steelers were one of three old-guard NFL teams to switch to the newly-formed American Conference (the others being the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Colts). This restructuring was necessary to equalize the number of teams in each of the two conferences following the AFL-NFL merger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Steelers

Because of the war, the Cardinals combined with the Pittsburgh Steelers to play as one team in 1944. The team was called was called Card-Pitt.