Super Bowl XLV


Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League champion for the 2010 season. The Packers defeated the Steelers 31–25, winning an NFL-record thirteenth championship and their first since Super Bowl XXXI in 1997. The game was played on February 6, 2011, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the first time the Super Bowl was played in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.
Unlike most other Super Bowls, this game featured two title-abundant franchises: coming into the game, the Packers held the most NFL championships with 12, while the Steelers held the most Super Bowl championships with 6. The Packers entered their fifth Super Bowl in team history, and became the first 6-seed team in the NFC to compete in the Super Bowl, after posting a 10–6 regular season record. The Steelers finished the regular season with a 12–4 record, and advanced to an, at the time, league record-tying 8th Super Bowl appearance.
Super Bowl XLV was initially dominated by the Packers, jumping to a 21–3 lead before the Steelers cut it to 21–10 just before halftime. Then after the teams exchanged touchdowns, the Steelers cut their deficit to 28–25 midway through the fourth quarter with wide receiver Mike Wallace's 25-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and a two-point conversion. The Packers answered with Mason Crosby's 23-yard field goal with 2:07 remaining, and then prevented the Steelers from scoring on their final drive of the game. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP, completing 24 of 39 passes for 304 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The broadcast of Super Bowl XLV on Fox averaged about 111 million viewers, breaking the record for the most-watched program in American television history. The game's attendance was 103,219, just short of the Super Bowl record 103,985 set in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Super Bowl XLV halftime show featured the American hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas, with additional performances by Usher and Slash.
This is the most recent time either of these teams have made the Super Bowl, despite appearing in a combined five conference championships since then.

Background

Host selection process

Three NFL cities presented bids for the game:
NFL owners voted to select the North Texas site on May 22, 2007. It marked the first Super Bowl in the Dallas–Fort Worth area after numerous unsuccessful bids in the 1960s-1970s.

Teams

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2010 season with a 12–4 record. They earned the AFC North division title, and the second seed in the AFC and advanced to their 8th Super Bowl, tying the Dallas Cowboys' record of most Super Bowl appearances.
After missing the first four games of the year on suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger returned for his seventh season as the Steelers starting quarterback, finishing the season with 3,200 yards and 17 touchdowns, with just five interceptions, for a 97 passer rating. He also rushed for 176 yards and two touchdowns. The team's top receiver was Mike Wallace who caught 60 passes for 1,257 yards and 10 touchdowns, giving him a 21 yards per catch average. Other reliable options included 13-year veteran Hines Ward, the Steelers all-time leading receiver, and tight end Heath Miller who caught 42 passes for 512 yards. Halfback Rashard Mendenhall was the team's leading rusher, gaining 1,273 yards and 13 touchdowns while also catching 23 passes. The line was led by rookie center Maurkice Pouncey, the Steelers only Pro Bowl selection on offense. However, Pouncey was injured in the AFC championship game and would be inactive for Super Bowl XLV.
The Steelers had one of the league's top defenses, leading the NFL in sacks, and fewest points and rushing yards allowed per game, while ranking second in fewest total yards. The line was anchored by Pro Bowl end Brett Keisel. The Steelers also had four excellent linebackers: LaMarr Woodley, James Harrison, James Farrior, and Lawrence Timmons. For the third consecutive year, Woodley and Harrison each recorded at least 10 sacks. Woodley also forced three fumbles and Harrison forced six. Farrior had 109 total tackles and six sacks. Timmons led the team with 135 total tackles, while also recording three sacks and two interceptions. The secondary was led by Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu, who won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, tying his career-best seven interceptions and returning them for 101 yards and a touchdown.
Coach Mike Tomlin, already the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl, became the youngest coach ever to make it to the Super Bowl twice at age 38. The Steelers also continued their streak of reaching the Super Bowl in five different decades, and in every decade since the post AFL-NFL merger.

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers finished the season with a 10–6 record and became the first sixth-seeded team in the NFC to compete in the Super Bowl. They are only the second sixth-seeded team to reach the Super Bowl, with the only other number 6 seed to accomplish this feat, coincidentally, being the Pittsburgh Steelers, who won Super Bowl XL following the 2005 season. Green Bay also joined the 2005 Steelers as the only teams ever to defeat the top three seeded teams on the road in the playoffs. In order to secure their fifth Super Bowl bid they defeated their longtime rivals, the Chicago Bears, in the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field.
The offense was led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was in his third year as a starter after taking over for the team's all-time leading passer Brett Favre. Rodgers finished the season completing 65.7% of his passes for 3,922 yards and 28 touchdowns, with only eleven interceptions, giving him his second consecutive season with a triple digit passer rating. He was also a good rusher, adding 356 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground. His top target was Pro Bowl receiver Greg Jennings, who caught 76 passes for 1,265 yards and 12 touchdowns, giving him a 16.6 yards per catch average while also ranking him fourth in the NFL in yards and second in touchdown catches. Other reliable targets included receivers James Jones, Donald Driver, and Jordy Nelson. The Packers lost star tight end Jermichael Finley to injury in week five who was their leading receiver at the time. The Packers ground game was crippled by injuries, especially the Week 1 loss of Ryan Grant, who had rushed for over 1,200 yards in each of the last two seasons. In his absence, the team relied prominently on Brandon Jackson, who rushed for 703 yards and caught 43 passes for 342, and fullback John Kuhn, who added 281 yards on the ground. The team's offensive line was anchored by pro bowl tackle Chad Clifton, an 11-year veteran.
The Packers defense ranked second in the league in fewest points allowed per game. The line was led by Cullen Jenkins, who recorded seven sacks in just eleven games, and 338-pound defensive tackle B. J. Raji, who had 6.5. The linebackers were led by Pro Bowler Clay Matthews and A. J. Hawk. Matthews ranked fourth in the NFL with 13.5 sacks, while Hawk led the team in combined tackles and intercepted three passes. Three of the Packers starters in the secondary also made the Pro Bowl. Tramon Williams led the team with a career-high 6 interceptions, while adding 326 punt return yards. Other Pro Bowl selections included safety Nick Collins and hard hitting 13-year veteran cornerback Charles Woodson, who recorded 92 total tackles and forced five fumbles, while also intercepting two passes.
The Packers entered the Super Bowl never having trailed by more than 7 points at any point during the season—a feat that had never been accomplished during a complete season in the Super Bowl era. The last team to complete a season with this distinction was the Detroit Lions in 1962. In the Super Bowl game itself, the Packers never trailed.
Of note, this was Green Bay's first Super Bowl against an AFC team that was not one of the "Original 8" American Football League franchises. The Packers had played Kansas City, Oakland, New England, and Denver in their four previous Super Bowl match-ups, defeating the Chiefs, Raiders and Patriots, and losing to the Broncos. The Steelers, like the Packers, predated the AFL's launch, having begun play in 1933, and moved to the AFC in 1970 as a result of the AFL–NFL merger to even out the two conferences.

Playoffs

The Steelers advanced to the Super Bowl with two close wins in the playoffs. After a first-round bye, the Steelers defeated their division rival, the number 5 seeded Baltimore Ravens 31–24, with Ben Roethlisberger's 58-yard completion to Antonio Brown on third down and 19 setting up Rashard Mendenhall's game winning 2-yard touchdown run with 1:33 left in the game. Roethlisberger finished with 226 passing yards and two touchdowns, while the defense forced three turnovers and sacked Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco five times, three by James Harrison.
Then the Steelers defeated the number 6 seeded New York Jets 24–19 in the AFC Championship Game. The Steelers seemed to be in complete control at first, taking a 24–0 lead in the first half. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez rallied his team back, cutting the score to 24–10 going into the fourth quarter. The Jets then drove to the Steelers 2-yard line on a 17-play drive, but the Steelers defense made a key stand, keeping them out of the end zone on four consecutive plays near the goal-line to force a turnover. The Jets subsequently forced a safety and scored a touchdown with just over three minutes left, but Roethlisberger's 14-yard completions to Brown and Heath Miller allowed the Steelers to hang onto the ball until time expired. Mendenhall finished with 121 rushing yards and a touchdown, along with 2 catches for 32 yards.
The Packers started off their postseason with a 21–16 win over the number 3 seeded Philadelphia Eagles after Tramon Williams intercepted a pass from Michael Vick in the end zone with less than a minute left to play. Aaron Rodgers threw for 180 yards and three touchdowns while James Starks, who only rushed for 101 yards during the season, rushed for 123 yards in the game.
The Packers then went to Atlanta, where the top-seeded 13–3 Atlanta Falcons were waiting. Although the Falcons took advantage of an early turnover and a kick return touchdown to build a 14–7 lead, the Packers quickly buried the Falcons with 35 straight points. By the end of the first half, the Packers held a 28–14 lead, and went on to win comfortably, 48–21. Rodgers was nearly perfect, completing 31 of 36 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns, while adding another score on the ground. Jordy Nelson and James Jones both had touchdown catches, while John Kuhn added scores by air and ground and Tramon Williams returned one of his two interceptions 70 yards for a touchdown. The Packers' special teams unit never had to punt the ball, while Mason Crosby contributed two field goals.
The Packers next faced their rival, the number 2 Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship Game, defeating them 21–14. This time Rodgers had a rougher day than his previous two games, throwing no touchdown passes and being intercepted twice. But he still threw for 244 yards and scored a 1-yard touchdown run, while Starks added 74 rushing yards, including a touchdown run in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Packers' defense knocked Bears quarterback Jay Cutler out of the game and intercepted three passes, one of which was returned 18 yards for a touchdown by B. J. Raji. The other two were made by rookie Sam Shields, who recorded his second interception near his own end zone with 37 seconds left to put the game away.