There is every reason to believe Green Bay's quarterback - and his team-mates - will be back on this stage before too long
So much for experience. One of the most oft-repeated lines in the build-up to Super Bowl XLV was the one about how this Green Bay Packers team had just one championship winners' ring between them ? belonging to a man, John Kuhn, who hadn't actually played in the game ? whereas more than 60% of Pittsburgh's starters had won it all before . Well, now the shoe is on the other foot. As of last night, 100% of the players on the Green Bay Packers' roster know what is required to win the biggest game.
There were moments when, after a disastrous start that saw them fall 18 points behind in the second quarter, it seemed as though the Steelers' muscle memory would indeed kick in and carry them over the line. The momentum was all theirs as they opened the fourth quarter with the ball on Green Bay's 33, before Ryan Pickett and Clay Matthews clobbered the ball loose from Rashard Mendenhall's hands. Then, when Ben Roethlisberger got the ball back with two minutes to play, with the Steelers 31-25 down, a repeat of his game-winning drive against Arizona in 2008 seemed all too possible. It never materialised.
More than one pundit has said in the past week that, while Aaron Rodgers is demonstrably the more technically gifted passer, Roethlisberger is the one you would want when a game is on the line. Yet at Cowboys Stadium the two quarterbacks actually posted very similar numbers ? Rodgers making one less attempt and one less completion. The difference was that Rodgers got things right at the big moments, throwing out of bounds when he needed to and into the endzone when he could. Roethlisberger, meanwhile, put his team in a hole they would not get out of with a reckless first-quarter heave.
No matter how impressive the throwing motion or how gaudy the statistics, elite quarterbacks will always be questioned until they have a Super Bowl win on their resume ? as Dan Marino can attest. But while all must bear that pressure, Rodgers came into this game carrying an even greater weight on his shoulders ? that of succeeding one of the most iconic quarterbacks in NFL history. Brett Favre may not be thought of as fondly in Green Bay as he once was, but equally he will never be written out of Packers history.
Rodgers cites Steve Young among his childhood idols, and will surely remember how the former San Francisco quarterback heralded his first Super Bowl win. "Somebody take the monkey off my back," quipped Young as time ticked down in the 49ers' rout of the San Diego Chargers at Super Bowl XXIX. As the successor to Joe Montana, a four-time Super Bowl champion in San Francisco, Young had felt pressure to validate himself with a title of his own.
Favre might not have achieved quite as much as Montana but he did bring Green Bay their first Super Bowl in almost 30 years. Last night Rodgers went one better ? not only winning the game, but also being deservedly named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player, something Favre never achieved. Unlike Young, though, he had no desire to discuss his predecessor.
"I've never felt like there's been a monkey on my back," insisted Rodgers afterwards and, to his credit, he has never played like there was one there either. From the moment he had the reins to this franchise handed to him in 2008 ? after three full years playing back-up to a quarterback famous for never missing a start ? Rodgers has played sensationally well. This was the first season in which he has failed to throw for 4,000 yards, and even then he only fell 78 yards short ? having missed one game with concussion.
His level-headedness is striking. Arguably even more impressive than his touchdown passes against Pittsburgh was the drive he orchestrated after the Steelers had closed to within three in the fourth quarter. Green Bay might have tried to run the ball and protect their lead but instead put the ball in Rodgers's hands, calling for passes on seven of the drive's nine plays. The drive might not have ended with a touchdown but it did end with a score and five-and-a-half minutes taken off the clock.
Indeed, there is every reason to believe he will be back on this stage before too long. The Packers are a young team with plenty of pieces in place besides their quarterback. The defence is dominant and the head coach Mike McCarthy has now also shown his mettle. Just as Rodgers outplayed Roethlisberger, he outcoached his counterpart Mike Tomlin, a man who had been here and won this game before. The Packers' constant switch-ups between spread formations with four and five receivers and their variations on a wishbone with three men in the backfield had the Steelers on the back foot from the outset.
Pittsburgh, by contrast, may be quietly approaching the end of an era, with a defence that was the second oldest in the league this season. But despite the outcome on this occasion we cannot say that being experienced in your field counts for nothing.
This, after all, was the first ever Super Bowl to be held in North Texas, and a week of organisational difficulties ? many of them, in fairness, caused by the snow blizzards ? ended on a low for the host committee when it emerged that 1,250 temporary seats inside Cowboys stadium had been deemed unfit for use by the fire marshal. Organisers were able to find new seats for 850 of the fans affected, but the remaining 400 were left without. These fans were offered a refund worth three times the face value of the ticket and offered the chance to watch on big screens onsite instead.
Given the costs most will have incurred in travelling to and staying near the stadium, the compensation seems paltry. Among that group there will have been Packers fans, some of whom who may not have seen them win a Super Bowl before. The inexperience of others may have cost them the experience of a lifetime.
Claudette Ortiz Julia Stiles Marisa Miller AnnaLynne McCord Emma Heming
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