Super Bowl: Green Bay Packers win big game over Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25

It probably wasn’t the prettiest Super Bowl ever played, but it wasn’t a bad one either.

There were a myriad of mistakes, several blown opportunities, and the game seemed to be out of hand at one point in the second quarter. However, the resilience of two outstanding quarterbacks coupled with two great defenses, made this year’s Super Bowl as about as good as it gets when it comes to meeting the expectations of sports greatest game.

And in sports greatest game, Aaron Rodgers, once again, proved to be the greatest player on the football field. Matched up against Ben Roethlisberger, Rodgers out-dueled the two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback with ease. Rodgers was 24 of 39 for 304 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns. His numbers would have been even better had Jordy Nelson, who dropped at least three catchable balls, had decided not to butter up his hands before the game.

Roethlisberger, who started off bad, didn’t finish the game on the same note. Overall, he had just a quarterback rating of 77.4, but just before the half, he took the Steelers down the field to make it a 21-10 game, in what was otherwise a first half routing of the AFC Champions.

The Packers firm grip on the game didn’t last long after that. The Steelers immediately came out of the locker room with an increased level of play. The running game of the Steelers dominated the Packers frontline in the third quarter, as the Steelers first possession in the second half resulted in a touchdown on a drive in which Pittsburgh never even threw the ball. All and all, the Steelers would finish the game with 126 rushing yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Had the Steelers not fallen so far behind, one can only wonder what they would have done with the ground game if they weren’t forced to pass early and often.

Of course, when you fall behind by as much as the Steelers did, it’s hard to come back in a game of this magnitude. The Packers would score a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, that for all purposes, put the game away. Rodgers was just masterful, avoiding the blitz, finding the open receiver, and putting the ball on target much more than his 24/39 performance would indicate. Rodgers win now gets a tremendous monkey off his back.

No longer will he be the guy who took Brett Favre’s place, he’s now the guy that did it better than Favre. In just his third-year as a starter, Rodgers has a Super Bowl ring, and one hell of a team to defend his championship with. Just think about this, the Packers had over a dozen football players on the IR this season, including their starting running back and linebacker, not to mention what was probably the NFC’s best pass-catching tight end. If those guys come back healthy, and that defense remains in tack, who knows, Rodgers may even surpass Green Bay’s once-beloved quarterback and get his own name etched in the Packers ring of honor.

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