1998 Arizona Cardinals season

The 1998 Arizona Cardinals season was the franchise's 100th season, 79th season in the National Football League and the 11th in Arizona. The club posted its first winning record since 1984, appeared in the postseason for the first time since 1982, its first postseason appearance in a non-strike season since 1975, and won its first postseason game since 1947 (it was also their first ever playoff win on the road). It was the Cardinals' first playoff appearance in its tenure in Arizona. After shocking the 10–6 Dallas Cowboys in the opening round in which the Cardinals won 20–7, Arizona ended up losing to the 15-1 Minnesota Vikings, 41–21 in the Divisional round. Over the next ten seasons, the Cardinals fell out of contention. They returned to the playoffs following the 2008 season, including a Super Bowl appearance despite a similarly mediocre 9–7 record.

Statistics site Football Outsiders states that the 1998 Arizona Cardinals are the third-worst team behind the 2004 Rams and 2010 Seahawks to qualify for the NFL playoffs since they began calculating ratings.[1] Ironically, all three of those teams won their first playoff games, before falling in the divisional round. Football Outsiders calls the 1998 Cardinals:

one of the greatest fluke teams of all time who went 9–7 despite getting outscored by their opponents 378–325 (by contrast, the 1993 Cardinals went 7–9 but outscored their opponents 326–269). They ranked 25th statistically below three different 4–12 teams. They were a colossal fluke, despite the fact that they won a playoff game in a huge upset over Dallas, The Cardinals went 6–3 over their final nine games, but all six wins came against teams that were 6–10 or worse, and all six wins came by either two or three points. The next year, they were back to 6–10[2]