GLENDALE, Ariz. — Larry Fitzgerald stood at the podium when Kurt Warner sneaked up from behind and gave his receiver a bear hug.

That was a lot closer than the Philadelphia Eagles ever got to the All-Pro in Sunday's NFC championship game.

Because the Eagles couldn't handle Fitzgerald or Warner, the Arizona Cardinals are heading to the Super Bowl. Yes, folks, the team that for decades has been a bad joke in the NFL had the last laugh in its conference with a 32-25 victory.

They'll play the Pittsburgh Steelers, with the AFC champions an early 6½ -point favorite.

The win was built on Warner's four touchdown passes, three to Fitzgerald, who had a record-setting day before an earsplitting crowd that couldn't have imagined such a thing back in September — when the Cardinals were a 45-1 longshot to make their first Super Bowl.

"I didn't know if we'd ever get to this point," said Warner, who found rookie Tim Hightower with a middle screen pass for an 8-yard touchdown with 2:53 left that won it. "I believed we could play with anyone in the league. But the challenge for us was putting that together in two, three, four weeks. Could we do that?

"You've seen us do that and you've seen we're as good as anyone in this league."

They get to prove that for certain in Tampa in two weeks, against the top defense in football.

The Steelers surely must do a better job on Fitzgerald, who was unstoppable against Philadelphia (11-7-1). Fitzgerald had nine receptions for 152 yards, including two big catches on the decisive 72-yard drive. His touchdowns covered 9, 1 and 62 yards, the latter on a fleaflicker during which safety Quintin Demps fell.

The former Pitt star set a single postseason record with 419 yards receiving, surpassing the great Jerry Rice. And Fitzgerald has one more game to go.

"Larry is phenomenal," Warner said.

"He has made I don't know how many huge plays for us in the playoffs," said coach Ken Whisenhunt, the offensive coordinator when the 2005 Steelers won the championship and the man who changed the football culture in Arizona from dysfunctional to dynamic. "I think that his confidence has grown. You have to give Larry credit because he never had too big of an ego that he didn't want to work on things, and that has really made him a dangerous receiver."

You think?

But for all of Fitzgerald's first-half heroics in building a 24-6 lead, the Cardinals (12-7) fell apart in the third quarter, gaining just 8 yards, and Philadelphia staged a sensational comeback.

Donovan McNabb hit Brent Celek for touchdowns of 6 and 31 yards. Then McNabb, who once this season got benched after a terrible opening half, silenced the raucous crowd with a 62-yard heave to rookie DeSean Jackson. The ball was tipped by cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie into Jackson's hands near the goal line with 10:45 remaining in the game.

Shockingly, Philadelphia was on top 25-24.

"We got in our comfort zone," McNabb said. "We came back and got to be in the rhythm that we need to be in, scoring points."

Just not enough points.

Time for Warner to show his pedigree on a drive that took nearly 8 minutes and carried the Cardinals to victory.

"I want to say Arizona Cardinals and Super Bowl in the same sentence," a jubilant Warner said. "The Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl. How about it?"

For the well-traveled Warner, the win was his third in as many NFC title contests. He led the 1999 and 2001 Rams to the Super Bowl — he was league MVP both years and St. Louis went 1-1 in those Super Bowls — before his career faded.

But the resurrected Warner has been sensational this season, and now he's led the Cardinals far beyond any previous success since moving to Arizona in 1988.

He finished 21-for-28 for 279 yards and the four TDs.

McNabb was 27-for-46 for 375 yards.

"You never want anything to end, and you don't see it ending," said McNabb, like coach Andy Reid a loser in four of five NFC title games in the last eight years. "To end this way, it's tough, when you're that close to making the Super Bowl."