Green Signs Five-Year Deal to Coach Cardinals

Dennis Green, one of the winningest NFL coaches in the 1990s, signed a five-year contract Wednesday night to guide the struggling Arizona Cardinals.

The 54-year-old Green, who had a 97-62 record in 10 seasons with Minnesota and led the Vikings into the playoffs eight times, spent the day in San Diego exchanging faxes and phone calls with Cardinal officials in Tempe.

The Cardinals did not release details on his salary. The team announced his hiring through e-mail, and neither vice president Michael Bidwill nor football operations vice president Rod Graves, the driving force to land Green, returned calls to their offices and cellphones.

“He is a proven winner with an outstanding track record of success,” owner Bill Bidwill said in the release.

The Cardinals planned to introduce Green on Friday at a news conference.

Green was 4-8 in the postseason, one of the reasons he was fired late in the 2001 season.

The Vikings were 15-1 in 1998 and wound up losing in the NFC title game. They also lost in the 2000 NFC championship game.

Green takes over a franchise that has had one winning season since 1984, one playoff appearance since 1982 and one playoff victory since winning the NFL title in 1947 as the Chicago Cardinals.

Coach Dave McGinnis was fired after Arizona finished 4-12 last season, one of four teams with that league-worst record. The team’s home fan base has dwindled to about 20,000.

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Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair went through a full practice, which amounted to about 60% of the snaps with the first-team offense.

The Titans practiced in 28-degree weather in Nashville in preparation for Saturday’s playoff game at New England.

McNair, the league’s co-most valuable player with the Colts’ Peyton Manning, did not take part in a two-hour walkthrough Tuesday as he rested his legs, which had been hurting because of a sprained left ankle and a strained right calf muscle.

Running back Eddie George ran on the side but did not practice with the team.

The Titans had planned to hold him out at least a couple of days because of the left shoulder he dislocated last weekend in a wild-card victory over Baltimore.

He also twisted his left ankle in the game.