Better team after their first 11 games, '66 or '70 Cards?

[74_75_78_79_]

Each squad, each HC'd by Charley Winner, start off very promising at 8-2-1 only to each lose final three thus eliminating themselves from post-season play.

What '66 has going for them is the 5-0 start that includes sweeping the Eagles albeit they starting slow at 2-3 during that stretch before going 7-2 from there. Cards concluded that 5-0 start by beating Cleveland on the road in Week #5 before tying conference-champ-to-be, Dallas, at home the following week. They would tack on three more wins the next six games before the bottom would fall out.

Even before posting that 8th win - over Austin's Steelers - to make it 8-2-1, they get bombed by those very not-good Steelers on the road two weeks prior, 30-6 (a bye-week for Cards separating both affairs with the Burgh). As for that final three...they lose in their rematch at Dallas, 31-17, then lose to a bad Falcon team before getting bombed in the finale to Cleveland, 38-10. Just the same, their defense for the entire season ranked 6th in points, and...(still)…#1 in yards-allowed! As for the offense? Simply middle-of-the-pack in both categories.

Not so much for the '70 installment though for that Cards' offense finished the entire season at 4th in points and 3rd in yards! And the D didn't quite finish as close to the middle for they ranked both 5th and 10th respectively. I think the '70 team, through the first 11 games, was more superior/showed more promise. That haunting first-three-games-of-November stretch in which they outscored their opponents...113-0!! Yes, the first two of those affairs were against Houston & Boston each at home. But 44-0 and then 31-0 is still 44-0 and then 31-0! Then they arrive at the Cotton Bowl the following week, under the MNF lights, and BLAST Super Bowl-bound Dallas, 38-0, THUS completing their season SWEEP over them!!

I can only imagine (fill me in better if you were around for it) that after the Cards were 8-2-1 in '66, that Vince's Pack at 9-2 was still seen as the Top-Dog with the Cards' upcoming rematch at also-8-2-1 Big D to perhaps be...battle-for-"2nd-best"-team. As for 1970…(coming off that MNF Dallas bashing)...you had a dominant Vikings team at 8-1 to StL's 7-2. Minny also clobbered Dallas early on albeit not statistically (just the same, 54-13 is still...). The Vikes also swept Detroit by then, and opened the season dousing the team whom they "should have" beaten the previous January. They were looking dominant thus far, as they did in '69; but with that '113-0' statement the Cards just gave, and Kapp not at QB, I can also only imagine that the 'gap' between both StL & Minn looked quite thinner to most than the 'gap' between Cards & Pack (AND Dallas) four years prior. Sure enough many in the Twin Cities felt a heavy breathing in the rear view, afraid that another team from Missouri will spoil their dreams for a second year! And two weeks later after the Cards (coming off a tie to KC) beat Eagles as Vikings suffer an upset at Shea, and with Namath out mind you (gap now closed at a half-game, 9-2 to 8-2-1), sure-enough the worry up north lasted a tad longer.

Just can't understand how a team that looked that dominant just suddenly lost out! A Super Bowl win seemed in their hands!

[SixtiesFan]

I was around back then. In 1966, with long-time starting QB Charley Johnson, the Cardinals were 7-1-1 when Johnson was injured. With Terry Nofsinger replacing Johnson, the Cardinals fell to 8-5-1. I remember the loss to Dallas. The Cowboys had beaten the Browns the week before on Thanksgiving Day in what was considered a showdown for the Eastern Division title. It was no surprise when the Cowboys beat the Cards the following week and went on to the NFL Title Game against the Packers.