The Cardinals are the oldest existing football club in the United States, beginning as an amateur athletic club team in Chicago. They began to field a pro team even before the founding of the NFL. Located on Racine Avenue in Chicago, they were known for a while as the "Racine Cardinals". They were often confused with Racine, Wisconsin, by fans in other cities. As the "Chicago Racine Cardinals" and then as the "Chicago Cardinals", they entered the NFL and fought with the crosstown rival Chicago Bears for years before moving to St. Louis.

In 1944, owing to player shortages caused by World War II, the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers merged for one year and were known as the "Car-Pitts", or "Carpets".

The Cardinals won their only NFL championship game in 1947 with their "dream backfield" which included quarterback Paul Christman and halfback Charlie Trippi.

Between 1960 and 1987, St. Louis was home to the Cardinals, a period when two big-league teams of that name existed in the city. Sports fans and local news coverage got into the habit of calling them "the football Cardinals" or "the baseball Cardinals" to distinguish the two. They left St. Louis when owner Bill Bidwill was unable to convince the city to build a new stadium.

The team has started construction on a new stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. This stadium, which will feature a retractable roof and a slide-out grass surface, is scheduled to open for the 2006 season.

--Wikipedia