Super Bowl match hearkens back to 'the worst team in NFL history'

On Feb. 1 the Steelers and Cardinals will meet to decide the world champion in Super Bowl XLIII.

But back in 1944, the two teams, merged together, couldn't win a single game.

Because World War II left rosters depleted, the Steelers and Eagles had combined their teams in 1943, with the conglomeration called Phil-Pitt, but sports writers dubbed them the "Steagles." The following year, the Eagles had enough players to field their own team, but rosters were still sparse, and the NFL had added the Boston Yanks, making it an unwieldy 11-team league. So the Steelers agreed to another merged effort, this time with the Cardinals, who at the time were located in Chicago and played at Comiskey Park.

This team was officially known as Card-Pitt, but after a few weeks of pathetic performances, a disgruntled fan wrote to the sports editor of the Pittsburgh Post and suggested they be called the "Carpets," since every team in the league walked all over them.

The name stuck, and with good reason. Card-Pitt quarterbacks threw 41 interceptions and just 8 TD passes in an 0-10 season in which seven of their losses were by more than 20 points. Quarterback Johnny McCarthy, who replaced Coley McDonough after he was drafted into the Army, tossed 13 of the interceptions and no TD passes for a passer rating of 3.0.

No other teams considered complaining about an unlevel playing field caused by two teams pooling their resources because both teams had already established a tradition of lousy play before the one-year merger.

The Cardinals had strung together eight consecutive seasons without a winning record, including 0-11 in 1943. The Steelers, who entered the league in 1933, had their first-ever winning season in 1942 and went 5-4-1 the following year in their merger with the Eagles, but they followed up the '44 fiasco with a 2-8 record on their own in '45.

The "Carpets" were outscored by more than 3-1, allowing 328 points while scoring just 108. By comparison, the 0-16 Lions were outscored by less than 2-1, allowing 517 points and scoring 268.

"The season couldn't have turned out any worse than this one," said Bert Bell, the Steelers' co-owner, along with Art Rooney.

Rooney, the team's founder and longtime chairman of the board, called it "the worst team in NFL history."

The "Carpets" were co-coached by Cardinals head coach Phil Handler and Steelers head coach Walt Kiesling, disproving the adage that "two heads are better than one." Their team played four home games at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field and two at Comiskey.

Kiesling and Handler became fast friends, partly because of their shared fondness for the racetrack. Rooney, who loved the ponies as much as the next guy, later recalled that Kiesler carried the "Racing Form," more than the team's playbook, according to James Forr in "The Coffin Corner."

The "highlight," of the season was a 42-20 loss to the Redskins on Oct. 29 that degenerated into a near-riot, causing D.C. police to storm the field. Rooney, a former U.S. Olympic team boxer but 43 years old at the time, was about to enter the melee before reconsidering. Card-Pitt's Cliff "Cactus Face" Duggan, whose brawl with the Redskins' Jim North, started the bad blood, was fined $200 by NFL Commissioner Elmer Layden, but Rooney offered to pay the fine.

The 1944 conglomeration was the only winless team in the Steelers' 76-year history, which has included five Super Bowl titles. A victory next week over the Cardinals would make the Steelers the only team with six.

Card-Pitt's best player, John Grigas, who was their leading rusher and passer (21 interceptions, 6 touchdowns) couldn't take the constant losing and, according to a New York Times story, he hopped a train out of town before the season finale against the Bears, leaving a good luck note and wishing for just one victory.

But the Bears, with Hall of Fame quarterback Sid Luckman back from the Merchant Marines, won 49-7, a fitting end for the "Carpets."