Super Bowl XLV

Last nights game will be one to remember, though I will try very hard to forget. As a die hard Pittsburgh fan it was extremely difficult to watch my beloved Steelers fall just short of their seventh Lombardi Trophy. Many romanticizing football fans, when they look back on this game they will remember whatever cinematic beauty the geniuses at NFL Films edits together to make the game and the players involved seem legendary. Most will remember a surging Aaron Rodgers picking apart the daunting Steelers D in a near perfect performance that ignited his meteoric rise to super-stardom. Do I disagree with this assessment? No, not at all. I will, however, remember this game for so much more. I will remember this game for all of the little intricacies that only live sport can express. i will remember all of the entities hat played a crucial role in that game, that will most assuredly be edited out of the history of the NFL.

First off this game was indeed a battle of two of the game's best young quarterbacks with potential Hall of Fame inductions in their future. However, last night was not a duel of two heavyweights at the top of their game going shot for shot, blow for blow, in a square-off for the ages. Aaron Rodgers had an amazing game, enough said, that can never be argued. He was BEYOND deserving of the game MVP. He was flawless in his decision making, precise on his throws, and showed the leadership and calm necessary to win a Super Bowl with a supporting cast. His statistics should have been even better if his nervous receiving corps could have held on to their five dropped passes throughout the competition. Big Ben Roethlisberger on the other hand looked off. He missed open receivers and made very questionable decisions throughout the contest. His two interceptions lead to two touchdowns for the Pack, one was directly returned for a touchdown which proved to be the difference maker in the game. he just did not make the same kind of plays that won his team their sixth ring in 2008. A better performance by Big Ben on Sunday could have meant a seventh ring for the Steelers. He had the heart of a champion and never gave in to the pressure playing from behind all game, but in a game that surely could have defined his career and put him in a elite category of owning 3 super bowl rings as a starting QB, his play just did not meet the mark.