Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers for a well-deserved victory. I had the Pittsburgh Steelers winning the whole thing. I was shocked as I watched the pre-game shows that just about every panelist imaginable was taking the Packers. Did no one respect the Steelers? Probably an unfair question to ask, but that was my emotion yesterday afternoon.
We broke down the game in every single way imaginable over the week, but the game essentially came down to two things: Aaron Rodgers being much better than Ben Roethlisberger and the Green Bay Packers making fewer mistakes than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
We talked so much about the experience that Pittsburgh had coming into this game. 25 players had Super Bowl experience for the AFC champions versus only a select few for the Packers. However, as the game went along, something became very evident to me. Pittsburgh may have had the edge in experience, but Green Bay had the edge in intensity and hunger.
It was something that I overlooked and failed to compensate for, but the Packers just seemed like they wanted it more than the Steelers. The Steelers were very business-like, but almost seemed to go through the motions as if it were just a regular game. I think that’s why the game lacked that little jolt that would make it go from good to great.
The telling point to me was when the cameras caught Mike Tomlin shaking hands with Aaron Rodgers in the middle of the game. At that moment, my first thought was to the bar patrons in Pittsburgh. What would they have been thinking as the leader of their football team was showing respect to the on-field leader of the opposition?
Most would understand shaking hands before and after the game, but during the game? I don’t think we would have seen that back in 2005 when the Steelers were hungry to get a first for Bill Cowher. I don’t think we would have seen that in 2009 when Mike Tomlin was trying to get his first, but we saw it last night.
Speaking of Aaron Rodgers, the guy came up with another blistering performance when he needed it the most and he has his offensive line to thank quite a bit as he wakes up as a Super Bowl champion this morning. He may have been knocked down quite a bit during the game, but in the big plays, Rodgers had ample time to go through his progressions and find the open man.
So, once again, congrats to Cheesehead nation and the good people in Green Bay. I’m sure the parties in the backwoods of Wisconsin are finally just dying down, but just wait for the parade. The future looks bright with Aaron Rodgers as the quarterback and Mike McCarthy as the coach and we could be talking about the Packers as champions again and again. At the start, I asked “Who respects the Steelers?” but there’s no doubt that after last night, everyone respects the Packers.