Super Bowl XLV: Recap

Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX

Pittsburgh Steelers
Green Bay Packers

This game was probably the most anticipated Super Bowl since the New England Patriots attempt at perfection in Super Bowl XLII.

The Steelers entered the game with more Lombardi’s than any other NFL franchise with six. This appearance tied the Cowboys’ record for most in the Super Bowl with eight. This was also the third Super Bowl appearance for Ben Roethlisberger and the second for Mike Tomlin.

The Packers hadn’t been in the Super Bowl since 1998 when they lost to the Denver Broncos, 31-24. At that time, Brett Favre was the Packers starter under center. Today his successor, Aaron Rodgers, started in the first Super Bowl to be played after Favre’s, likely, final retirement.

The Packers won the coin toss and differed to receive in the second half. Pittsburgh wasn’t able to get anything going on their opening possession and had to punt. The game got exciting, and nerve-wracking, very quickly. Green Bay CB Tramon William muffed the punt when his own man interfered with his fair catch. The Pack dodged a bullet by recovering the ball.

On their possession, Green Bay got a free play on an offside call, but completed a pass near midfield anyway. They stalled on that set of downs, however, and it was the Packer’s turn to punt the ball away.

The Steelers had no more success on their second possession as on their first, but when they failed to pin Green Bay inside their 20, the Packers took advantage. It was a well-executed drive with Rodgers stretching the defense and finding his outlets when under pressure. The drive resulted in a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson that gave the Packers an early 7-0 lead. Rodgers was 5/6 on the drive with his one incompletion coming on a deep pass on the first play of the drive.

An illegal block in the back put the ball on the 7-yard line for the Steelers to start their ensuing drive. On the first play, a Packers defender applying pressure caught Ben Roethlisberger’s arm and his pass floated in the general direction of Mike Wallace. With no one else around, Nick Collins had an easy pick before running it back for a touchdown.

A 12-play drive for the Steelers finally put them on the board early in the second quarter when Shaun Suisham capped off the drive with a field goal. The Packers still led 14-3 and they got the ball back with the Steelers not putting up much resistance against Rodgers & Co.

That momentum didn’t carry over, however. The Packers were quickly forced to punt. With the ball back in his hands, Roethlisberger, who had been under constant duress up to that point, needed to find a way to get the ball into the end zone. Earlier in the game he had sustained shoulder and knee injuries but was confident he could still throw and run. An early penalty set the Steelers back to 1st & 20 inside the 20-yard line. The drive looked good for a while as Pittsburgh converted that first down and another, driving to near midfield. They would progress no further on that drive, however. Jarrett Bush picked off a pass Roethlisberger attempted to thread between two Packers defenders.

With another chance to extend their already comfortable lead, the Packers made quick work of the Steelers defense. They converted two first downs on their way to a 21-yard touchdown strike from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings.

With just over two minutes left in the first half, the Steelers needed a break, or at least a quick, long drive. They started at the 23-yard line. On the first play they got a big break. Roethlisberger throw a bullet that had just enough lift to get over the outstretched arms of a Packer defender and into the hands of Antwaan Randle El for a 37-yard completion. Three plays later Roethlisberger found Hines Ward for a first down on 3rd & 10. Another big completion to Ward gave the Steelers 1st & Goal from the 8. With the kind of success he was having, Roethlisberger figured to go in the same direction once more and found Ward for a touchdown deep in the end zone.

When the Packers got the ball they called a run play that ran down the clock to half time with Green Bay leading 21-10.

After Pittsburgh shifted some of the momentum their way at the end of the first half, the Packers had a chance to take it back when they got the ball to start the second half. Green Bay hurt their cause by committing two penalties for a combined 15-yard loss. Pittsburgh then caught a bit of a lucky break when a 3rd & 5 pass from Rodgers was dropped and the Packers were forced to punt.

There was a questionable call on the punt return when a facemask was called on Green Bay. There was, however, no question about the Steelers running ability as they did nothing but run all over the Packers defense on their way to another touchdown.

Scoring another big defensive stop, the Steelers got the ball back with pretty good field position. They did a good job running the ball when they tried the ground game, but Roethlisberger passed a little more on this drive and did a decent job for a while. After the Packers defense finally locked down and forced a 3rd & 13, Roethlisberger was forced to wait for a play to develop downfield. Packers linebacker Frank Zambo had more than enough time to get to him and made the sack. Shaun Suisham was forced to kick a 52-yard field goal, which he missed badly.

With excellent field position and an 18-point lead that had dwindled down to four, the Packers needed a spark to take advantage of the opportunity. They never got one, but they did move the ball down the field a little bit and were able to score a small victory by pinning the Steelers at their own 13-yard line with a punt.

The Packers defense didn’t let Pittsburgh’s offense get past their 20-yard line and the Steelers had to punt.

After a 15-yard penalty and a three-and-out by Green Bay, the Steelers got another chance with great field position. Their drive started at Green Bay’s 41-yard line. On 2nd & 2, two Packers defenders hit Rashard Mendenhall hard. One of them was Clay Matthews, who dislodged the ball. Desmond Bishop was there to pick it up.

Green Bay took advantage of this possession as they converted a few third downs and ended the drive with a 2nd & Goal touchdown pass from Rodgers to Jennings, the second touchdown hookup for the two in the game, and the Packers took a 28-17 lead early in the 4th quarter.

With that score, the Packers had notched 21 points off Pittsburgh turnovers. This ended up being the story of the game. The Packers took care of the ball, fumbling just once on the early muffed punt, but they never turned the ball over. Meanwhile, Roethlisberger threw two interceptions and Pittsburgh lost their only fumble on the Mendenhall run and Green Bay took advantage by scoring a touchdown after each of these turnovers.

At this point the Steelers were down by 11 again. Roethlisberger led his team on a fantastic drive down field. They committed a penalty that could have really hurt them, but they got past it and capped the drive off with a 25-yard touchdown to Mike Wallace. They opted to try for two, having gone 2/2 during the regular season. The play looked dead when Roethlisberger was met by a wall of green, but he found Randle El, pitched it to him, and watched his wide receiver convert the two-point try to pull to within a field goal with about 7:30 left in regulation.

Just when it looked like the Packers next drive was about to die and the Steelers would have a chance to tie or take the lead, a huge pass to Jennings over the middle on 3rd & 10 gave the Packers just the spark they were looking for. James Starks took the handoff on the next play and picked up another first down and the Packers found themselves in field goal range. Another big pass to the back shoulder of James Jones gave the Packers 1st & goal at the 8-yard line. A couple short passes later and it was third down at the 5. Good defense by the Steelers forced the Packers to send Mason Crosby out to kick the 23-yard field goal.

Down by six with 2:07 left in the 4th quarter, the Steelers would get the ball back with only one timeout and the 2-minute warning at their disposal. The Steelers weren’t going to make it easy on themselves though. Not only did Redman not go down until after the 2:00 mark had passed, but Pittsburgh was also penalized on the play. The Steelers went into a hurry-up offense and quickly went to work on advancing the ball down field. Roethlisberger’s first two passes on the drive gave the Steelers a first down and a 5-yard gain. After throwing the ball away on 2nd & 5, Roethlisberger threw another incompletion, overthrowing Mike Wallace for the second time in the game. With only 56-seconds left, the Steelers needed to convert on 4th & 5. The pass was nearly picked off, but ruled incomplete. Regardless of the call, it was clear that the drive was over and the Packers were just a few long moments from taking home the Lombardi Trophy.

Green Bay called on Aaron Rodgers to sit on the ball two times while the rest of the players began to enjoy the moment. This is the city’s 4th Super Bowl win and 13th NFL Championship.

Early on, this game looked like it would be a blowout like so many Super Bowls have been in the past. But Pittsburgh battled back as their defense played well throughout the third quarter and Roethlisberger settled into a rhythm. The Packers offense finally got things back together in the 4th quarter and did not let the Steelers ever take the lead in the game. Though close, the Packers had this game from the beginning to the end and earned a very exciting victory. It was, as many of the championships this decade have been, a very close, exciting game.

Final Score: Green Bay – 31, Pittsburgh – 25
MVP: QB Aaron Rodger, Green Bay

Hopefully, after his performance, Aaron Rodgers will no longer be considered as being in Brett Favre’s shadow. Rodgers is a household name now, and it should now because of what he has done and not because of who’s act he followed.

In other Super Bowl related news, it is quite likely that Cowboys Stadium will not be hosting another championship game any time soon. When many fans were displaced from their seating, around 400 were left with no seating to be relocated to. Most of them were forced to use the standing room only platforms where there wasn’t nearly enough room. The NFL will be refunding them triple (each person will receive $1800-$3600 for what were tickets ranging from $600-$1200), but the fans are still unhappy that they traveled all the way to North Texas to watch the game in a bar setting, something they could have done back home.

One more note: my predictions for this game were pretty accurate. I predicted Green Bay to win 31-30 and for Rodgers to be named MVP. You can see those predictions in my “Super Bowl XLV: Predictions” post.

I hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl and, as always, thanks for reading!