Final: Pittsburgh Steelers 25 Green Bay Packers 31

It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in a Super Bowl.  Only two other quarterbacks in Super Bowl history has done what Aaron Rodgers did in winning the Super Bowl.  Throw for over 300 yards and convert on at least 3 touchdown passes and throw no interceptions.  The other two were Steve Young and Joe Montana.  Rodgers did just that and against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

With that said Rodgers deserves to be in the conversation of one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL today.  For other reasons too he should be in that conversation.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen a quarterback on this stage play a perfect game.  It really was.  Pittsburgh had no answers for him.  Yes they sacked him a couple of times, but Rodgers never missed a beat and if there weren’t so many dropped passes, he could’ve thrown for over 400 yards and possibly another score.  

Rodgers is right when he said after the game that it was a team effort.  Not by an individual.  The Packers defense caused three turnovers that resulted in 21 of the Packers 31 points.  They also held firm when Charles Woodson broke his collarbone just before halftime.  The Steelers gained some momentum, but the Packers defense never gave up the lead.  Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings stepped up in a big way when their leader Donald Driver went down before halftime to help keep the Packers ahead of the Steelers on the scoreboard.  

The tables were turned from the start when it looked like Rodgers had been here before and Ben Roethlisberger was playing his first Super Bowl.  Roethlisberger threw two first quarter interceptions, the first when he’s throwing shoulder was hit that was easily caught and returned by Nick Collins for a touchdown.  The second when he didn’t see Jarrett Bush creeping up over the middle to jump in front of the Steelers receiver.  

Even Pittsburgh’s defensive stars were absent most of the game.  James Harrison was kept under wraps the entire first half.  He made some plays in the second half, but not enough to keep Rodgers and the Packers off the field.  Troy Polamalu was no where for the entire game.  At times, including the game winning touchdown to Greg Jennings, he was lost in coverage and couldn’t recover.  It’s something special when a quarterback can make the Defensive Player of the Year look average.

It didn’t happen exactly as I said in my preview, but it was pretty damn close.  The score wasn’t right, but the Packers won thanks to the Rodgers-Jennings connection.