Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Chicago Cardinals were founded in 1898 by Chris O'Brien as an amateur athletic club called the Morgan Athletic Club. The team adopted the Cardinal Red name in 1901 after O'Brien purchased faded maroon uniforms from the University of Chicago.
Yes. In 1920 the Cardinals paid a $100 franchise fee to join the American Professional Football Association, the body that became the NFL in 1922. The Cardinals and the Chicago Bears are the only two charter members of the 1920 founding still operating today.
The Cardinals won the 1947 NFL championship, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 with their "Million Dollar Backfield" and 282 rushing yards. The 1925 title is also claimed by the franchise, though it was not awarded that year due to controversy.
Duke Slater was pro football's first African-American offensive lineman and played for the Chicago Cardinals from 1926 to 1931. He earned All-Pro honors six times and was one of the very few Black players the NFL allowed to compete during an era of informal racial exclusion. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
By the end of the 1950s the Cardinals had accumulated just 33 wins over the decade, attendance had dwindled, and the team was near bankruptcy. The Bidwill family could not afford the NFL's relocation fee on their own, and negotiations to sell the team to outside investors including Lamar Hunt and Bud Adams collapsed. The NFL ultimately engineered a deal sending the Cardinals to St. Louis, Missouri, beginning with the 1960 season.
In 1944, player shortages caused by World War II forced the Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers to merge for one season under the nickname "Card-Pitt." The combined team was winless that year, earning the derisive nickname "Carpets." The Cardinals returned as a standalone franchise in 1945 and snapped a 29-game losing streak by beating the Bears 16-7.