The Super Bowl itself was a classic (click here for highlights). The Steelers took a commanding first half 17-7 lead thanks in part to the longest play in Super Bowl history: a breathless, lung-bursting 100 yard interception return by the league’s defensive MVP, James Harrison, who spent much of the next half hour breathing from an oxygen mask to recover. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was also playing with assurance, his performance a long way removed from the nervy second-year player whose team won a title in spite of him three years prior.
The Cardinals did not look like a team who were outclassed however, and following a cagey third quarter, they came roaring back with a stunning fourth quarter fightback. Quarterback Kurt Warner, playing out another chapter in a fairytale career that took him from stocking shelves in a supermarket, to winning a Super Bowl for the St Louis Rams, then on to being an unwanted injury-prone backup, and now finally back to another Super Bowl, found Larry Fitzgerald, the breakout star of the year, who showed both sides to his scoring threat. First, Warner hit Fitzgerald for a leaping touchdown catch over the coverage, bringing the score back to 20-14.
Then, following a 2-point safety thanks to strong defense from the Cardinals, Warner picked out Fitzgerald in midfield, who showed the other side to his play, scorching away from defenders to complete a 63-yard touchdown and give his side the lead with less than three minutes remaining. Arizona were on the verge of history.
Pittsburgh got the ball back on their own 22-yard line with 2:37 and two timeouts left in the game. Despite at one stage facing 1st and 20, Roethlisberger did what he does best, especially behind a weak offensive line, rolling out of the pocket, extending the play, and waiting for his receivers to get open. Four times he found Santonio Holmes, as the Steelers marched downfield. With 43 seconds remaining, Roethlisberger looked to his right and fired a pinpoint pass over three defenders to a point where only Holmes could possibly reach it. Holmes leapt at full stretch, and grabbed the ball whilst managing to get his feet down and inside the end zone for the touchdown. The scoring drive had covered 78 yards in eight plays, with Holmes, the game's MVP, responsible for four of them, totalling 73 yards.
The Cardinals now had only 35 seconds left to find a winning score, but with eight seconds remaining, Pittsburgh’s league-leading defense came to the fore, with Lamarr Woodley sacking Warner, and team-mate Brett Keisel recovering the fumble to secure the 27-23 win for the Steelers.
In a decade that has seen some fantastic Super Bowls, this was one of the best. Momentum swung one way and then the other, and right up until the final seconds, no-one could be sure who would win. There were spectacular scores, fantastic defense, and great stories all over the pitch. Whilst it was sad for the Cardinals, who had instilled pride in a franchise that had been a joke for years, and for Kurt Warner, whose 377 passing yards was the second most of all time, behind his own record of 414, and ahead of himself again in third place, the Steelers fully deserved their own piece of history, becoming the first side to win six Super Bowls, and reminding fans why they are one of America’s best loved sports teams.
(For extended stylised highlights, click here, well worth 20 minutes of your time)
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