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TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Cardinals have followed every step in coach Vince Tobin's blueprint for restoring a tattered franchise.

First, they swept away the team's negative history. Then they accomplished what even diehard fans considered unthinkable at the start of this year -- a first-round playoff victory over the Cowboys in Dallas.

Now they face what may be an insurmountable object -- the 15-1 Minnesota Vikings, at the Metrodome no less.

	Arizona coach Vince Tobin says the Cardinals still have work to do.

His team's intensity and effort in a 20-7 domination of Dallas on Saturday impressed Tobin, but not the fact that the Cardinals won a playoff game for the first time in 51 years.

"We've still got work to do. We're not in a celebrating mood," Tobin said.

The Cardinals, one of the NFL's charter franchises, carried a losing image from Chicago to St. Louis to Arizona.

Their last winning season before this year's 9-7 was in 1984, their last playoff appearance in 1982 and their last playoff victory in 1947, an era when the NFL championship was decided in one game. Until Saturday, that was the only postseason win since the franchise was founded in 1920.

It's all history to Tobin, who says he doesn't care about the past.

But Tobin doesn't mind discussing his two years as defensive coordinator at Indianapolis and the similarities between the Colts and Cardinals -- unpopular owners, fan apathy and players who felt they were destined to lose.

In 1995, the year before Tobin left for the Cardinals, the Colts earned a wild-card spot, won two games and fell four points short of beating Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game and earning a Super Bowl berth.

Tobin has something similar in mind.

"Our future is this week against Minnesota, or next year, whenever next year starts," he said. "You can't live on what you've done in the past, but I am proud of where the franchise is, where the organization is, the way the team is thought of around the league.

"A big part of the goal when I got here was, 'Why couldn't the Cardinals be a class operation that other teams would want to emulate?' and that wasn't the way they were thought of when we got here."

Tobin took a 4-12 team to 7-9 his first year in Arizona. The Cardinals skidded to 4-12 last season, but Tobin continued to insist his club was better than its record, which included two one-point losses and three in overtime.

Young, homegrown stars such as quarterback Jake Plummer, wide receiver Frank Sanders and linebackers Jamir Miller and Ronald McKinnon helped the Cardinals turn it around this year, producing an NFL-record seven victories in eight games decided by three points or less.

And the players learned to think about the future.

They found it in Texas Stadium, where they hadn't won since 1989.

In its first playoff appearance, the NFL's youngest defense sacked Troy Aikman four times, pressured him into 22 of 49 passing and three interceptions, and held the Cowboys to 96 yards rushing.

It was only the sixth time in 17 games the Cardinals accomplished that.

The Cardinals, who rose from 29th to 13th in total offense over the course of the season, scored touchdowns after their two biggest plays of the year, a 59-yard one-handed catch by Sanders and a 74-yard run by Adrian Murrell.

Chris Jacke, who won Arizona's previous three games with field goals on the final play, was perfect in two attempts in this one.

On defense, the Cardinals stopped the Cowboys three times on fourth down and shut them out until the final 3 minutes, 33 seconds. Cornerback Aeneas Williams had two interceptions, safety Tommy Bennett had one and Miller had two of the four sacks.

"Aikman is the type of quarterback who gets frustrated," Miller said. "And if you can get to him and hit him, then you can get inside his head."

Something Tobin accomplished with his squad long before it began the playoff run.