Cardinals–Rams rivalry

Both teams are some of the oldest surviving members of the National Football League, the Cardinals originally formed in 1898, The Rams were an expansion team that joined in 1936. Early on, both teams were pitted against each other in what was then the NFL Western division. Both clubs saw personnel struggles during World War II as neither team posted a winning season until 1944. The two would combine for 2 NFL Championships in 1945 and 1947 respectively, being the most recent championship won by the Cardinals.

However; after 1950 regular matchups between the two teams would not become regular again until 2002. Rams' then owner Dan Reeves previously relocated the team to Los Angeles following the 1946 season, and the Cardinals would shift to the American Conference from 1950-52, before encountering financial difficulties throughout the 1950s, ultimately leading them to relocate to St. Louis in 1960 as part of a bid from the league to prevent an AFL team from taking the St. Louis market. The Cardinals would begin to struggle mightily through the decades following their lone championship in 1947 and would not make a playoff appearance until 1974. Due to the shift in divisions and the reorganization following the merger with the AFL, the Rams and Cardinals only met 3 times between 1960 and 1968.

The two franchises took very different paths during the 1970s, the Cardinals would make back to back Divisional appearances in 1974 and 1975, the Rams would make continuous postseason appearances from 1973 to 1979. The playoff appearances included a 1975 Divisional matchup against the Cardinals, the first postseason meeting between the two clubs. The Rams defense scored 2 touchdowns in the first half while running back Lawrence McCutcheon ran for an NFL playoff record 202 yards on 37 carries. Los Angeles started the game off with a 79-yard scoring drive. The Cardinals were extremely outmatched against the Rams' Defense as Quarterback Jim Hart threw a critical interception and it was returned for a pick 6. Hart would finish the game with 3 interceptions as the Rams were well beyond out of reach.

This would go onto be the Cardinals' last playoff appearance until 1982, and their last in a non-strike season until 1998, a decade after the franchise moved to Arizona. The two teams would meet again in the 1979 season, but the Rams dominated the game, shutting out the Cardinals 21-0. The Rams would usually be an aspiring contender throughout the 1970s but would go onto lose in 4 straight Conference Championship games and lose an appearance in Super Bowl XIV.

The Cardinals would not fare terribly well during the decade, the Rams would go onto boast a 6 game win streak from 1979 to 1987. The Cardinals also would make their only playoff appearance of the decade during the 1982 postseason, but would fall to the Green Bay Packers. The Rams meanwhile, would be significantly competitive through the 1980s despite unstable ownership, and a fight for the market with the Raiders Relocating to LA in 1982. The Rams would make 7 postseason appearances in the 1980s, but would go on to lose twice in the conference championship to the 1985 Bears and the 1989 49ers. The Cardinals would not post a winning record from 1983 to 1998, the team would also grow unsatisfied with the aging Busch Stadium and would relocate to Phoenix, Arizona in 1988.

The Rams would seek relocation in 1995 following a sharp decline in fan attendance in addition to the team's play. Ironically owner Georgia Frontiere would seek to relocate the team to St. Louis to fill the void left by the cardinals 7 years earlier. The Cardinals struggled through most of the decade but somehow slipped into the playoffs in 1998 with a lowly 9-7 record, and pulled off a win over the Dallas Cowboys but they would go on to fall against the notorious 1998 Vikings and their high powered offense. The Rams would pull off an improbable turnaround the very next season, they finished 1998 with a weak 4-12 record, but turned their fortunes around during the 1999 season boasting a 13-3 record and winning Super Bowl XXXIV as the iconic Greatest Show On Turf led by Quarterback Kurt Warner.

The new millennium would fall in favor of the Rams briefly until they would go on to fall to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI. The Cardinals would be realigned back into the Rams’ division following the 2002 NFL season where they remain today. The Rams would remain competitive briefly but would never regain the levels of playoff success they experienced at the beginning of the decade as they would not make a playoff appearance from 2005 to 2016. Following the 2002 NFL realignment, the Cardinals would be reassigned to the NFC West and thus would go on to play the Rams twice a year for the first time since 1950. The Cardinals would also turn their own fortunes around later in the decade following the hiring of Ken Whisenhunt in 2007, and would mark a high point for the franchise the next season as they would go onto make their first super bowl appearance in franchise history, but would fall to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ironically the Cardinals revived their playoff amibitions with former Rams' Super Bowl winner and league MVP Quarterback Kurt Warner. The Cardinals would only manage another wild card berth but would not return to the postseason until 2014; the Rams meanwhile bottomed out with a terrible 1-15 record in 2009.

Both teams would enter the decade rebuilding, the Rams would attempt to turn their team around with coach Jeff Fisher but would not prosper much beyond a mediocre 7-9 record in 2013 and 2015 respectively. The Cardinals would find themselves thriving again as Head Coach Bruce Arians would bring them to a 10-6 record his first two seasons with the team, and lead them to a playoff berth in 2014. The Cardinals would also trade for quarterback Carson Palmer and see a renaissance of their offense as they would even manage a trip to the 2015 NFC Championship. but would fall to the Carolina Panthers.[7] Following the 2015 season, the Rams would relocate back to Los Angeles and take Quarterback Jared Goff first overall in that year's draft. The Rams would post a poor 4-12 record their first season back in Los Angeles, but would go on to make the postseason with an 11-5 record following the hire of new head coach Sean McVay.[8][9] During this time the Rams would also manage to shut out the Cardinals during a game at London's Twickenham Stadium, the first shut out the team would experience since 1992. The Cardinals would sputter to a 8-8 record, after which; Carson Palmer and Bruce Arians retired, and the team would bring in Steve Keim as their coach, though his tenure would be very short and he would be fired following the 2018 season. The Rams would begin the first of 4 consecutive sweeps of the cardinals including 2 shut out losses including the London Game.[10][11] 2018 would also see the Rams make a return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2001, though they would again fall to the New England Patriots. The Cardinals would hire Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury to replace Keim at the start of the 2019 season, after which they drafted quarterback Kyler Murray first overall. The Rams would also hit a slump that season following their Super Bowl appearance, and would go 9-7, missing the postseason.

The beginning of the decade saw strong play by of both teams yet again. The 2021 season started with several drastic changes for the Rams as they traded Jared Goff and several draft picks to Detroit for quarterback Matthew Stafford.[12] The Cardinals started the season 7–0, including a 38–20 win over the Rams in Los Angeles.[13][14][15] The Rams would encounter other challenges as they entered the Monday night matchup in Arizona with an 8-4 record as Arizona themselves boasted a 10-2 record.[16][17] However, the Rams won the return game in Glendale, 30–23 in a hard fought battle that saw Kyler Murray throw two interceptions, one critically turning the ball over in the fourth quarter, allowing the Rams to take the lead and eventually win.[18] The Rams came back to win the division, while the Cardinals fell to a Wild Card spot, with the two facing off in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.[19][20][21]

During the Wild Card game, the Cardinals were again quickly outgunned by the Rams as they were outscored 21-0 by halftime.[22] During the third quarter, Rams' running back Cam Akers unintentionally collided with Cardinals' safety Budda Baker during a run. Akers was unaware Baker had suffered a concussion and was unable to get back up and playfully taunted him following the play.[23] Following the arrival of medical personnel, Akers expressed his regret for the celebration and tweeted an apology for his taunt and expressed his support for Baker's recovery after the game.[24][25] Despite Murray’s best efforts during the second half; the Rams would go on to crush the Cardinals 34–11 on their postseason stretch culminating with them eventually winning Super Bowl LVI at Sofi Stadium.