The

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

was the franchise's 100th season, 79th season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and the 11th in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. The club posted its first winning record since

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

, appeared in the postseason for the first time since

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, its first postseason appearance in a non-strike season since

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, and won its first postseason game since

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

(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 The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

, 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 Football Outsiders (FO) is a website started in July 2003 which focuses on advanced statistical analysis of the NFL. The site is run by a staff of regular writers, who produce a series of weekly columns using both the site's in-house statistics ...

'' 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. Ironically, all three of those teams won their first playoff games, before falling in the divisional round. The season also marked the Cardinals' first game in St. Louis since re-locating to Arizona after the season. The Cardinals defeated the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

20-17. Prior to the season, the Cardinals would be realigned to the

NFC West The National Football Conference - Western Division or NFC West is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Arizona Cardinal ...

, thus becoming divisional rivals to the Rams, and from then would play a regular season game in their former city every year until the Rams' return to the

Los Angeles metropolitan area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

after the season.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Undrafted free agents

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Standings

Playoffs

NFC Wildcard Game

Quarterback Jake Plummer passed for 213 yards and two touchdowns as he led the Cardinals to their first playoff victory since 1947.

NFC Divisional Playoff

Awards and records

* Kwamie Lassiter, NFC Leader in Interceptions, 8 * Kwamie Lassiter, Tied NFL Record, Most Interceptions in One Game, 4 (Achieved on December 27) * Frank Sanders, Led NFC in Receptions, 89 ''NFL 2001 Record and Fact Boo''k, Workman Publishing Co, New York, , p. 451

References

Cardinals on Pro Football Reference

Cardinals on jt-sw.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1998 Arizona Cardinals Season

Arizona Cardinals seasons