Super Bowl XLV Reflections

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The 2010 NFL Season has concluded and the Green Bay Packers are the Super Bowl Champions. The first champion of the 2010s, the Packers ran a gauntlet in December and January to reach the big game. Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy and his team outplayed, outcoached, and outmanned a Pittsburgh Steelers team than many had begun to crown after Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s return from a four game suspension in October.

I could go over stats and Xs and Os but who cares? It does not change the Packers win. And other than the turnover battle, stats and schemes tell very little of the story of this championship contest. Pittsburgh turned the ball over three times, including a Nick Collins interception returned for a touchdown while Green Bay did not turn the ball over.

However, there were a number of noteworthy and telling points in Super Bowl XLV. There were not many “turning points” in the game in the traditional sense. The Packers never trailed. However, there were a number of “defining moments” that played a major role in determining the outcome of the game.

Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers

One of my all-time favorite NFL head coaches, Jim Mora, Sr. (Saints, Colts) often said, “The only statistic that matters is ‘turnovers’.” That appeared to ring true in Super Bowl XLV. One of the most significant determinants was a turnover that did not happen. Early in the game, Tramon Williams of the Packers muffed a punt when a teammate inadvertently made contact with him. Williams managed to recover the ball when it appeared that a Steelers player was able to touch the ball on the ground first. Green Bay responded soon after by scoring a touchdown. Less than a minute later, Collins scored a touchdown off of a Roethlisberger interception. The Steelers were in a big, early hole. The Steelers, who lost by a touchdown, dug a crater sized hole by losing the turnover battle and did nothing to bridge the gap of the impact of the turnover battle on the game by turning the ball over two more times.

Nick Collins celebrates a pick six. 2

Quarterback Battle

Big Ben usually thrives on defensive pressure and makes opponents pay. Not in the Super Bowl, though.... 3

Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers had plenty to smile about, hi-fiving a fan in celebration. 4

Roethlisberger was efficient and adequate. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sharp and clutch. This, frankly, was the opposite of what I expected to see. Rodgers looked like the signal caller who had been to the Super Bowl and won twice before. Roethlisberger, while not bad overall, never appeared to be able to raise his level of play above that of everyone else on the field. The bottom line is that Aaron Rodgers and his teammates, when they had to make a play, made plays to sustain drives, nearly every time the situation arose. The Steelers only appeared to connect in pivotal situations after halftime, and not when the game was on the line in the final minute. Games between evenly matched teams are almost always decided by a clear winner at the quarterback position and, if football were boxing, Aaron Rodgers won by unanimous decision.

Too Big a Hole; Too Little, Too Late

Pittsburgh fell too far behind too quickly to have any more than a slim chance to win the Super Bowl. The record for the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history is held by two teams, tied for the record of 10 points; the Washington Redskins came back to beat the Denver Broncos in super Bowl XXII and the New Orleans Saints, a year ago, came back from the same deficit to beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. The Steelers fell into a 14 point hole in the first quarter, growing to an 18 point gap just before the two minute warning in the first half.

Unlike regular season games, playoff games, especially the Super Bowl, involve the best of the best teams. The gaps in talent between any two playoff teams facing each other are usually very slim. When one team falls into an early hole, even if it outplays its opponent down the stretch, it is extremely difficult to completely bridge the early gap in the score because the opponent is not going to lie dormant.

Off Color Commercials

This has nothing to do with the game itself, but the commercials in the Super Bowl broadcast are often one of the more interesting elements of the event. I saw more slapstick and toilet humor, with cans of Pepsi Max being hurled by jealous girlfriends and into groins and teleflorists using breast jokes to sell flowers. Yes, such low common denominator humor is as old as time and will always garner someone’s attention, but commercials of Super Bowls past have involved far more creativity with far fewer technological tools available to produce them.  

Love hurts. 7

Madden NFL 11

It Is Better to Receive than to Give the Ball Away

Rashard Mendenhall's big fumble in the fourth quarter may have been the separator put the Packers out of reach of the Steelers. 5

Packers wide receivers Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson were not perfect. As a team, the Packers had several dropped passes. Football, however, is a game in which there will typically be over 100 plays from scrimmage, yet, often, a small handful of plays can swing the momentum and influence the outcome of a game. The Nelson dropped a couple of passes that could have crippled the Steelers, yet he made up for missed opportunities by redeeming himself with big plays. Greg Jennings made two clutch catches, for touchdowns, that put multiple score space between the Packers and Steelers.

The Steelers, on the other hand, came very close, on numerous occasions, to relieving the pressure of its scoring deficit to the Packers, but could never cut the margin to any less than three points. Too many times, the Steelers could not convert on third down. Too often, a receiver was slightly overthrown downfield. Too often, the Steelers gave the ball to their opponents before it could get its motor revved.

The Difference Between Champions and Runner Ups

When the game was done, the Packers were six points better than the Steelers. Both teams fought hard. Both teams could have had a different outcome had they executed certain plays differently than they had, a better outcome for the Steelers, a worse outcome for the Packers. However, football is a game of inches and there are no do overs in the postseason. When the rubber hit the road, the Packers had enough to stand out above the Steelers and stand out from the rest of the NFL.

Dynasty?

Every time a new Super Bowl Champion is crowned, the sports media quickly speculates on whether or not that team can repeat. The NFL has had three different champions in the past three seasons, the Packers, Saints, and Steelers with young nuclei that will remain intact for several years to come.  In addition, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have, minimally (barring serious injury), three high-level seasons remaining in their careers, if not more.  There is also a team that plays its game in New Jersey coached by a big colorful character named Rex Ryan with enormous championship potential, dynasty potential. Let us also not forget about quarterbacks Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers and Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons. These rising stars are capable of leading teams to a championship. Finally, the Baltimore Ravens, while racing against Father Time in some positions, appear to be at the doorstep of returning to the Super Bowl.

There have only been eight repeat Super Bowl wins by seven franchises in the history of the NFL (’67 Packers, ’73 Dolphins, ’75 Steelers, ’79 Steelers, ’89 49ers, ’93 Cowboys, ’98 Broncos, ’04 Patriots). The prospect of any team repeating in any sport, ever, is a bleak one due to the competitive nature of professional sports, particularly in the NFL, in which there is a salary cap and larger market teams cannot simply spend at will to force smaller market teams out of contention (cough…baseball…cough).

While I think it is very possible that this team of Packers could win another championship in the next 5 years, the Saints, Steelers, and the aforementioned teams are equally viable. The odds of a Packers repeat, no matter what improvements are made in the offseason, are not probable. What I do expect from the Packers, along with the other major players mentioned, is that those teams will be a competitive force with the potential to reach the Super Bowl in each of the next several seasons.

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1) Image from homedepot.com
2) Image from huffingtonpost.com via Associated Press
3) Image from abc24.com
4) Image from businessinsider.com
5) Image from espn.com
6) Image from nola.com
7) Image from bvonmoney.com