The Steelers and Cardinals can trace a close relationship to long before 2005 when Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt and offensive line coach Russ Grimm were on Bill Cowher's staff that directed Pittsburgh to its last Super Bowl title.

The two franchises endured a brief, yet rocky one-year marriage in 1944 when the NFL was short on manpower because of World War II. Then-Commissioner Elmer Layden asked patriarchal owners Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Charles Bidwill of the Chicago Cardinals — who had gone winless the year before — to merge into the Card-Pitt combine.

It didn't take long before they were dubbed the Car-Pits — as in carpets — because as one fan put it, "teams walked all over them." Card-Pitt finished 0-10, leading Steelers co-owner Bert Bell to summarize: "The season couldn't have turned out any worse than this one."

Vince Banonis, a two-way standout at center and defensive tackle for the Cardinals from 1942-50 before finishing his career in Detroit, considers himself lucky for leaving the team after three games when a Navy admiral noticed one of his charges was playing in the NFL.

"I'd take a weekend leave, hitchhike from Wildwood, N.J., to Philly. Take a train to New York and a midnight plane to Chicago, and get in at 5 a.m.," said Banonis, 87, who said he was wearing his No. 32 Cardinals jersey back home in Southfield, Mich., during a telephone interview.

"The linebacker got injured so I played both ways for 55 minutes. ... Then the Admiral called and that was that.

"Most of the players were leftovers, 35-year-old guys rejected by the service who practiced at night and worked factory jobs all day. That's why we didn't do so hot. I'm glad I left because it was pretty rough not being able to practice with the team all week or stay in shape running."

Card-Pitt split their home games and uniform colors at Chicago's Comiskey Park and Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. The respective coaches of the 1943 Cardinals and Steelers, Phil Handler and Walt Kiesling, were co-head coaches, which instantly divided the locker room.

The co-coaches' bizarre decision to punt on first down deep in their own end rather than run out the clock cost them a sure victory in a season-opening 30-28 loss to the Cleveland Rams.

"The coaches couldn't get along," said former Card-Pitt tackle Chet Bulger, 91, of Fairfax, Va. "We didn't have a punter so we all tried out. Tackles, ends, but they couldn't get a guy to play football."

Starting quarterback Coley McDonough was drafted into the army after the second game, a 34-7 loss to the Packers. After another dismal 34-7 loss to the Chicago Bears in which Card-Pitt managed just four first downs, the co-coaches fined Johnny Butler, John Grigas and Eberle Schultz $200 apiece for "indifferent play." The players went on strike, refusing to practice the following Tuesday.

"We all went across the street and sat down," Bulger said. "We left the coaches out there by themselves. It was silly."

The whole season was "silly." After a hearing with Rooney, Grigas and Schultz returned, but Butler was shown the door.

During a 42-20 midseason loss to the Redskins, Bulger broke his nose in a huge brawl that had to be broken up by the D.C. police.

Despite a chance to win the rushing title, Grigas pulled a Ricky Williams the night before the season-finale 49-7 loss to the Bears when he left the team with a soulful note in his hotel room.

"When your mind is changed because of the physical beating, week in and week out, your soul isn't in the game," Grigas wrote.

The miserable merger was mercifully dissolved. It's the only winless season in Steelers history. Statistically, Card-Pitt was truly the pits, finishing with eight touchdown passes and 41 interceptions, still the third-highest mark in NFL history. They were outscored 328-108.

Ernie Bonelli missed the '44 season, but he played halfback for the Cardinals in 1945 before being traded to the Steelers in 1946. Bonelli, a spry 89 who still plays golf near his Sarasota home, won't have any divided loyalties Sunday.

"I'm from Pittsburgh, went to Pitt, so my vote goes to the Steelers, but if the Cardinals win, what the heck," Bonelli said. "We have to handle their good end (Larry Fitzgerald). He went to Pitt, too."

Banonis and Bulger returned to Chicago following the Card-Pitt's lone season and along with Bonelli were part of a 28-game winless streak. But with the influx of returning soldiers plus the addition of the "Dream Backfield," led by Georgia $100,000 phenom and future Hall of Fame halfback Charley Trippi, the Cardinals won their first and only NFL title in 1947.

Bonelli said his Steelers taskmaster coach Josh Sutherland had the team practicing an unprecedented twice a day, but still Pittsburgh didn't win its first championship for another 30 years in Super Bowl IX.

Now 61 seasons later the Cards are finally on the brink of another, while their former other halves pursue an NFL-record sixth Super Bowl title.