The Season and the Series Finale (2009).
Fresh from his vindication in the 2008 season and Super Bowl XLIII, Kurt inked a new two year contract with the Cardinals worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two seasons and a $15 million signing bonus. He then underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. Kurt recovered completely from this surgery and then continued his stellar performance in the 2009 season, as the highlights indicate.
On September 20, 2009, Kurt completed 24 of 26 passes for an amazing 92.3 % completion rate with 243 yards and two touchdowns. This completion percentage remains one of the NFL’s highest single-game completion percentages in the regular season.
On November 1, 2009, Kurt became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two different teams.
On November 8, 2009, Kurt tied his career high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41– 21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance earned Kurt both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week honors.
On November 15, 2009, Kurt reached another career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31 – 20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21 – 13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Kurt was knocked out of the game with a concussion. He continued to suffer post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 straight games.
On December 6, 2009, Kurt returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30 – 17. Kurt registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After this three-touchdown performance, Kurt was again named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Kurt became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two different teams in the Cardinals’ 31 – 10 win over the St. Louis Rams.
On January 10, 2010, Kurt threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51 – 45 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card round of the playoffs. He also became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Kurt finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1.
On January 16, Kurt was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45 – 14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter for physical reasons.
On January 29, 2010 Kurt officially announced his retirement from the NFL. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven children and that he wanted to spend more time with his wife. He spoke passionately about the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God.
On August 12, 2011, Kurt Warner was named as an inductee into the Arena Football league (AFL) Hall of Fame.
Kurt Warner became eligible for induction into the National Football League Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. Although he was not selected on the first ballot, there is no doubt that he will persevere until he receives this honor that he so justly deserves. After all, he has encountered and overcome some adversity before in his career!
More about Kurt Warner, a true sports legend, to follow!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
