TEMPE, Ariz. — The man who performed a football exorcism in the desert is keeping his cool with his Cardinals a win away from the Super Bowl.

Then again, Ken Whisenhunt just about always keeps his cool.

The Cardinals franchise never has been here before, but Whisenhunt has. He was offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers before taking on the formidable challenge of coaching the NFL's laughingstock of a franchise.

No one's laughing now, except maybe in disbelief. Whisenhunt brought Steelers toughness and an organized, unflappable style. He didn't get one vote for coach of the year this season. If the balloting had waited a few weeks, no doubt he would.

"You go how your leader goes," quarterback Kurt Warner said. "He deserves a tremendous amount of credit, most importantly for bringing in a belief that we could accomplish something that had never been before."

This week, Whisenhunt again is leading his team through uncharted territory. After all, Arizona's 9-7 record marked only their second winning season since 1984.

They hosted Atlanta in a wild-card game that was the Cardinals' first home playoff contest since they beat Philadelphia to win the title 61 years ago. As the Chicago Cardinals.

Now it's Philadelphia again on Sunday for the NFC Championship and a possible trip to the Super Bowl.

The 45-year-old coach is trying to keep his players from getting too carried away with the moment.

"Anytime you get to this level, whether you're an assistant coach, whether you're a player, whether you're whatever, it's a fantastic feeling," Whisenhunt said. "But you don't want to get so wrapped up in that that you don't realize this is an important game for us and we have to keep our focus on that."

Asked what the biggest areas of concern were, Whisenhunt said "dealing with distractions."

"You also have to handle not getting too big for your britches," he said. "When the 32-team field gets down to four teams and all that attention comes to you, a lot of times guys start feeling they're a little better than they are, maybe losing that work ethic that got them to that point."

Whisenhunt had to rely on that work ethic to make it as a tight end after being drafted in the 12th round by Atlanta out of Georgia Tech in '85. He played from 1985 to 1993 with three teams before turning to coaching.

He had stops as an assistant for Baltimore, Cleveland and the Jets before joining Bill Cowher's staff at Pittsburgh as tight ends coach in 2001. He moved up to offensive coordinator in 2004.

Passed over for the Steelers job, he came to Arizona and went 8-8 in his first season, then won the NFC West in his second. Along the way, he has made some difficult decisions, most significantly making Warner the starting QB over Matt Leinart this season.

On the sideline, he rarely shows much emotion, studying his clipboard and talking calmly on his headset. He has let his feelings show at times as the games grew more important.

After the playoff wins at home against Atlanta and on the road at Carolina, he ran along the front row slapping hands with Cardinals fans.

Whisenhunt's demeanor, and that of the ex-Super Bowl champion and MVP Warner, keep a mostly young team steady, fullback Terrelle Smith said.

Whisenhunt said he learned from Cowher not to get caught up thinking about how far the team has come.

Like the NFC Championship.




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