Top 5 most head-scratching moves in Arizona Cardinals history

Keeping the 1925 NFL Championship

In 1948, the Chicago Cardinals were the defending NFL Champions, having won the NFL Championship a season prior in 1947. Their only other championship? 1925….sort of. While the NFL record books recognize the Chicago Cardinals as the 1925 NFL Champions, that championship may actually rightfully belong to the Pottsville Maroons, who beat the Cardinals that season.

The Maroons had a 10-2 record while the Cardinals had a 10-2-1 record following the former’s 21-7 win on December 6th, 1925. Then the Maroons played an unsanctioned game against the former Notre Dame Fighting Irish All-Stars in Philadelphia, a city whose territorial rights sat with the Frankford Yellow Jackets.

Further, the Cardinals scheduled games against the Milwaukee Badgers and Hammond Pros, the former of which resulted in the 1925 Chicago Cardinals-Milwaukee Badgers/ Pottsville Maroons Scandal; the Cardinals knew that the Badgers had already disbanded for the 1925 season, but owner and Chicago resident Ambrose McGuirk agreed to the game, despite not having time to get his team back together.

Art Foltz, who played for the Cardinals, recruited four players from a nearby high school to suit up for the Badgers, allowing the latter team to field enough players en route to a 58-0 blowout win for the Cardinals. After another easy win over Hammond, the Cardinals had the best record in the league and claimed the 1925 Championship.

The Fallout and (Nearly)100 Years of Misery for the Arizona Cardinals

However, then-owner Chris O’Brien did not claim the title that season. Instead, when the Bidwill family bought the Cardinals in 1933, they simultaneously claimed the championship. While the case has been examined twice – once in 1963 and again in 2003, the NFL has continually recognized the Cardinals as the champions.

Of course, the Bidwill family has been adamant that the championship remains with the Cardinals. But since they have gone longer without winning a professional sports championship than any active professional sports franchise in North America, one may think that something called the Curse of the Pottsville Maroons may be infecting this franchise.

The Cardinals have won just eight postseason games since – six playoff games, one NFL Championship, and one Playoff Bowl. They have also won just seven division championships. That said, it is safe to say that the Bidwills’ head-scratching decision to staunchly claim the 1925 title as their own has contributed directly to this little-known sports curse.