Cardinals’ home losing streak is longest since the WWII-era Card-Pitt teams

The Arizona Cardinals extended their home losing streak to nine games after their 45-21 defeat against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, which is a franchise record, according to NBC Sports research.

The history, however, is a bit more complicated.

The Cardinals franchise has gone through major changes throughout the past century, including three significant moves from Chicago to St. Louis to Arizona, but there is a particular season that sticks out as especially unusual.

In 1944, shortly after Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II, the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers merged their teams due to the number of players deployed overseas. Pro Football Reference has that Frankenstein team labeled as the Chi/Pit Cards/Steelers.

The Cards-Steelers (or Carpets, a mocking play on Card-Pitt, as they would be called) went 0-10, splitting home games at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was the only winless team in Steelers history.

“(Late Cardinals owner Charlie Bidwill) and I would sit together,” then-Steelers owner Art Rooney once said, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “When something went wrong, and it usually did, he’d yell at me, ‘that’s one of your players.’ I’d yell the same thing when one of the Cardinals players messed up.”

With that season included, the Cardinals lost 13 straight home games between 1942-45, spanning the two cities. Omitting 1944, the Cardinals lost eight straight home games in Chicago during that span.

Using the latter framework, Cardinals made dubious franchise history on Sunday for a streak that spans two head coaches and starting quarterbacks.

The Cardinals also recently lost eight straight home games from 2021-22, their previous longest home losing streak since moving to the Valley in 1988. The Cardinals are 10-31 at home since their 7-0 start in 2021.

Arizona’s last home win was Week 2 of 2025 against the Carolina Panthers, on Sept. 14.

Its next opportunity will be Oct. 25 against the Denver Broncos. Perhaps Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald’s Ring of Honor induction will provide some juice that pushes the Cardinals to break the streak.

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