Biggest what-if in each NFL team’s history

What if there was a way to change a moment in history for each of the 32 NFL teams. There isn’t, but it makes for some delicious food for thought.

Prepare yourself for a lot of supposing.

It’s somewhat safe to imagine that that nearly every sports fan has the played the game of “what could have been” or “if only” when it comes to their favorite player or team. In terms of NFL history, we’re going to up the stakes a little bit.

The premise of this hopefully-entertaining piece is to a shot at altering history. Each of the 32 franchises in the National Football League have had their good and bad moments. Some have certainly been synonymous with greatness and others linked with failure. There has also been some very fortunate fortune as well as inexplicable disaster that wound up changing things in many ways for some of these clubs.

Submitted for your approval. A look back (and perhaps forward) at what could have been had things had gone somewhat differently.

Arizona Cardinals: Kurt Warner doesn’t throw goal line INT in Super Bowl XLIII

The Cardinals, currently of Arizona and formerly of both Chicago and St. Louis, currently own the NFL’s longest title drought. The team last one a league championship way back in 1947, when the franchise was in its third decade of existence and residing in the Windy City.

But that doesn’t mean that the Cards didn’t have a chance to end that streak not all that long ago. It will be 10 years this season that the club made its only Super Bowl appearance. Led by Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner and the prolific receiving duo of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, the club had to deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They fell behind 10-0, then rallied late in the fourth quarter to take a 23-20 lead. But it wasn’t mean to be thanks to Steelers’ wide receiver Santonio Holmes tightrope act in the back of the right corner of the end zone. Arizona fell in a thriller, 27-23.

Of course, one play that dramatically swung the momentum of this exciting contest was an errant Warner pass directly into the hands of Steelers’ outside linebacker James Harrison. He made his way down the right side lines and in epic fashion managed to get into the end zone as time expired in the first half. The 100-yard scoring return would turn a possible 14-10 deficit for Pittsburgh into a 17-7 lead at intermission.

So is it a different game if the Cardinals lead at the half?

Next: Atlanta Falcons