Hey, stranger things already have happened this season.

We've never had an 0-16 team before like the Detroit Lions. We've never had a rookie quarterback start 19 games and lead his team into a conference final like Baltimore's Joe Flacco. And in the league's 89-year history, no team has ever rebounded from a 1-15 record to win 11 games and a division title a la the 2008 Miami Dolphins.

This wasn't lost on Roger Goodell. The NFL Commissioner opened his annual "state of the union" address Friday by acknowledging the wackiness that has ensued.

"Each week, there's another unpredictable event," Goodell said. "That is the hallmark of our season."

Goodell then used the words "hope, inspiration and teamwork" to further describe the 2008 campaign.

"Hope that your team always can succeed and overcome the obstacles; inspiration from players, coaches, and teams when they come together and inspire communities; and teamwork, which is so critical for what we all need to achieve," he said. "It's working together and coming together at exactly the right time."

Arizona embodies all that to a tee.

The Cardinals hadn't won a division title since 1975 or hosted a home playoff game since 1947. Arizona ended both streaks this season, albeit in a lackluster fashion that inspired little confidence about its postseason chances. The franchise was even reduced to partnering with a pool supply company to push tickets for a first-round game that was in danger of a local television blackout.

But remarkably, these Cardinals didn't sink.

Arizona instead took a page from the 2007 New York Giants, whose Super Bowl XLII upset of the New England Patriots last February set the stage for this season's volatility. Like the Giants, Arizona played its best football during the postseason. Buoyed by a resurgent defense and the red-hot play of wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (23 catches and five touchdowns), the fourth-seeded Cardinals reeled off three consecutive playoff victories for their first Super Bowl appearance.

Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner admits he didn't see this coming when the season began.

"I've seen us make strides where you feel like, 'OK, we're taking steps that if we can continue to do this, one day we could be playing in the Super Bowl,' " said Warner, one of only five Arizona players with previous Super Bowl experience. "It came a lot quicker than a lot of people expected. When you hear everybody around the league, they obviously didn't expect us to be in the playoffs or definitely be here."

Most also believe Pittsburgh is going to win today's game.

The Steelers can be considered one of the few remaining threads to NFL normalcy this season. The franchise's tradition of success continued with its seventh Super Bowl appearance and the chance to win an unprecedented sixth Lombardi Trophy.

"It never gets old, that's for sure," said Steelers President Art Rooney II, whose team is making its second Super Bowl appearance in four seasons. "We will take as many as we can get."

The 2008 Steelers advanced here in similar fashion to their brethren that won four titles in the 1970s. Pittsburgh bested the opposition with a modern-day Steel Curtain defense and a quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger who, much like Terry Bradshaw, has a penchant for big plays and clutch performances.

Roethlisberger's health is one of the Super Bowl-week storylines that surfaced. Depending on whether you believe reports from two prominent media outlets or the Steelers themselves, Roethlisberger either did or didn't need an x-ray for a back/rib injury suffered in the AFC Championship game win over Baltimore.

That will be a topic of conversation during tonight's Super Bowl telecast as well as other subjects already publicized to the point of overkill: