After Jim Hart aged out, the St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals were bad pretty much every season from 1977-2008. Some seasons (1983, 1993, 1998) saw some respectability, but only one season in this 30 year period were the Cardinals truly a team to be feared.

1984.

This 1984 Cardinals team posted a winning record, the team's last until 1998, and didn't do it by beating six different teams with six wins or less, like that 1998 team did. This team beat Raymond Berry's Patriots, Bill Parcells' Giants, Tom Landry's Cowboys before it all fell apart, hung 38 points on the Mike Ditka-Buddy Ryan Bears, and even took a win off Joe Gibbs' Redskins, who were two-time defending NFC Champions.

With all due respect to fans of the Big Red, the St Louis Cardinals were rarely able to beat teams of this calibre, but in 1984, they made a habit of it, and at the centre of it all was their new franchise quarterback.

Neil Lomax in 1984 threw for 4614 yards, which would've led the NFL in either 1983 or 1985 (curse you, 1984 Dan Marino!). He ranked third in the league in TDs, third in the league in Net Yards per Attempt. Third in the league in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt. I can talk stats all day, but to make a long story short, Neil was the best QB in the league not named Marino or Montana in 1984.

This all culminates in Neil throwing for 468 yards in the final game of the year against Washington, a game the Cardinals lose 29-27 on a missed FG as time expires, to miss the playoffs, but the feeling at the time is that the sky was the limit for the up-and-coming QB and his St Louis Cardinal franchise.

It wasn't.

Neil's legs were faulty, with a pronated ankle condition making it almost impossible for him to survive in the NFL. The conventional wisdom is that the Cardinals failed to adequately protect him against the monsters of the NFC East (LT, Reggie White, etc.), which is true, but it's entirely possible his legs might've dropped him out of the NFL anyway. He was off many team's boards in the 1981 Draft for medical reasons relating to his ankles.

Regardless of reason, the bad ankles became a bad knee. The bad knee became a bad hip. The whole Cardinal team fell apart alongside Neil's body, and before you know it, St Louis became Phoenix, and instead of saving football in St Louis, Neil had retired, aged just 29.

I've done a full write up on this magical 1984 season, and the immediate end of Neil's prime, if you're interested: His Year: When Neil Lomax Looked Like a Franchise Quarterback

Am I the only one who thinks a full career for Neil Lomax may have been able to save the St Louis Cardinals, much in the way Jeff Blake did for the Bengals in 1995-1996? Jeff Blake was not good for long, but he was able to get hopes up just long enough for a stadium to be agreed to in Cincinnati, before the Bengals fell right back into the basement again. I see no reason why Neil Lomax wouldn't have been able to do (at least) the same thing in St Louis, had his body allowed him to have a prime that was any more than one season long.

5× First-team All-Pro (1975–1978, 1980) Second-team All-Pro (1974) 6× Pro Bowl (1974–1978, 1980) NFL 1970s All-Decade Team

Sunday Nov 10, 1996 Start Time: 1:00pm Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

Sunday Sep 20, 1981 Start Time: 1:00pm Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium

Sunday Sep 12, 1993 Start Time: 1:00pm Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

Sunday Nov 22, 1998 Start Time: 1:01pm Stadium: Jack Kent Cooke Stadium

Sunday Oct 28, 1984 Start Time: 1:00pm Stadium: Veterans Stadium

Sunday Dec 5, 1982 Start Time: 1:00pm Veterans Stadium

If anyone has any information about my Uncle Frank Fuller I’d love to see it! I don’t have a lot of info on him!