Super Bowl XLV started off quickly for the Green Bay Packers, who gained a 14-0 lead by the end of the second quarter. After deferring the kick and giving the Steelers the ball to start the game, the Packers’ defense got an impressive three-and-out stop, against a very experienced Steelers offense.
Before the game many people had questions about whether or not† Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers could come through for his team on the big stage. Rodgers had no problem answering these questions when he led the Packers downfield early in the first quarter to score a touchdown.
This score was quickly followed by a Nick Collins interception when† Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger underthrew Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace. From then on history would be against the Steelers; no team has ever overcome a 10-point deficit to reclaim the lead in a Super Bowl.
The Steelers did, however, gain an advantage in the second quarter when Packers cornerback Charles Woodson broke his collarbone during an attempted interception.
This injury was only one in a series of injuries that plagued the Packers in the first half.
Other injuries included Nick Collins, Sam Shields and Donald Driver. With all of these injuries it seemed likely that the Steelers had a chance at breaking the trend and making one of the most spectacular comebacks in American sports history.
Entering halftime, the score of the game was 21-10. Although Green Bay was in the lead their spirits were noticeably deflated by the loss of several of their key starting players due to injury.
It was during halftime, however, that Woodson tried to approach his team. Unable to speak and overcome with emotion, his attempt at rousing his teammates still had a signifigant impact on their approach to the second half.
Despite opening up the second half with the ball, the Packers were unable to put points on the board early in the third quarter. In response to the Packers’ punt, the Steelers immediately marched down the field and scored on a Rashard Mendenhall eight-yard touchdown run. This score changed the momentum of the game and placed the Steelers within four points of the Packers.
Unable to respond, the Packers punted the ball back to the Steelers who once again marched down the field. However, this time they were unable to make it to the endzone† and had to settle for a 52-yard field goal attempt and a chance to narrow the Packers’ dominant lead. Unfortunately for the Steelers, kicker Sam Suisham missed his kick by about 30 feet leaving the score at 21-17
Despite this turn of events, the beginning of the fourth saw a turning of the tide when Packers linebacker Clay Matthews forced a fumble from the hands of Mendenhall. The Packers then took full advantage of the turnover when Rodgers connected with wide reciever Greg Jennings on a eight-yard touchdown pass.
With 7:34 left in the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger hiked the ball and option pitched it to Antwaan Randle El, who then glided into the end zone. The play brought what was once a 21-3 deficit to a three-point difference, 28-25.
On the Packers’ next drive, following a first down sack and a false start penalty, quarterback Aaron Rodgers faced a third-and-10 deep in Steelers territory. As the Steelers fans waved their Terrible Towels and the Steelers’ offense put their helmets back on in anticipation, the momentum had seemed to turn at last to Pittsburgh. That feeling, however, quickly vanished into the North Texas night.
Rodgers stepped backward into the pocket on third down and saw the green and yellow of Greg Jennings’ uniform streaking between Pittsburgh players Ike Taylor and Troy Polamalu.
The football rocketed out of Rodgers hand and flew between Taylor and Polamalu. It landed right into the fingertips of Jennings for a 31-yard completion. First down.
Although it did not win the Packers the Super Bowl, that play forever halted any chance the Steelers had to finish their comeback. By the time the drive was over, the Packers had extended their lead to 31-25 and left only two minutes on the clock.
Most importantly, they silenced the Steelers. After failing to complete three straight passes on their last drive, the final one being on fourth-and-five, Roethlisberger and the Steelers handed the ball and the Vince Lombardi trophy to Green Bay Wisconsin.
The Packers overcame a furious rally by the Steelers and key injuries to Woodson and Driver to extend the Packers record of titles to thirteen, nine before the Super Bowl era.
“We’ve been a team that’s overcome adversity all year,” Jennings said after the game. “Our head captain goes down, emotional in the locker room. Our number one receiver goes down, more emotions are going, flying in the locker room. But we find a way to bottle it up and exert it all out here on the field.”
The Green Bay Packers never let the emotions, the rally by the Pittsburgh Steelers or being the sixth seed in the NFC shake their confidence. The night before the game, with Jennings loosely singing next to the piano in the hotel lobby, head coach Mike McCarthy had his team fitted for Super Bowl rings. Although some critics may have disagreed with that move if they had lost, it cannot be denied that the Packers won.
“That was just a vote of confidence for us,” Woodson later said. “Get fitted for your ring. I don’t know when we’ll get them, but it’ll fit.” The† Lombardi Trophy is returning to Green Bay, the original Super Bowl champions. For some reason that fits just as well.