After a remarkably mild winter, up to 7 inches of snow is arriving just in time to give Detroit a festive coating and complicate the movement of tens of thousands of fans converging on steel-roofed Ford Field for the 6:30 kickoff of Super Bowl XL between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks.
The Steelers will be rocking their sixth Super Bowl ('75, '76, '79, '80), but first in ten years, while the Seahawks are making their Big Show debut. Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren is no stranger, though, having been to four finales, racking up two wins as an assistant with San Francisco, and one as head coach in Green Bay. He's trying to become the first head coach to win with different franchises
The Steelers (14-5), though seeded sixth entering the playoffs, are four-point favorites. They've won seven in a row, including road victories in the playoffs over division winners Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver. The Seahawks (15-3) have won 13 of their last 14 games and smoked Carolina for the conference championship. Their Shaun Alexander was the league MVP, setting an NFL single-season record with 28 touchdowns and leading the league with 1,880 yards rushing; and their defense led the NFL in sacks.
Ben Roethlisberger, 23, hopes to become the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl and Steelers teammate Jerome Bettis strives for what could be a perfect end to a Hall of Fame career, playing in his hometown of Detroit in what might be his final season.
Key Stats:
Seahawks - Offense — Hasselbeck, 3,459 passing yards and 24 passing TDs; Alexander, 1,880 rushing yards and 28 rushing TDs; Bobby Engram, 67 receptions and 778 receiving yards; Joe Jurevicius, 10 receiving TDs. Defense — Bryce Fisher, 9 sacks; Michael Boulware, 4 INTs.
Steelers - Offense — Roethlisberger, 2,385 passing yards and 17 passing TDs; Parker, 1,202 rushing yards; Bettis, 9 rushing TDs; Ward, 69 receptions, 975 receiving yards and 11 receiving TDs. Defense — Porter, 10½ sacks; Chris Hope, 3 INTs.
Everyone and their mother will be watching on TV, the commercials are almost as hyped as the game, and the Rolling Stones are stars of the halftime show. After the Janet Jackson Nipplegate scandalof two years ago, halftime producers have settled on broad-based "veteran" rockers — Paul McCartney last year — to ensure a wrinkly but safe amusement. An egregious affront to polite society in the era of the first Super Bowl in the '60s, age and fortune have turned the Stones "family friendly"; Brian Jones is weeping in his grave.
Article comments
1 - MCH
"The Steelers will be rocking their sixth Super Bowl (they won four in a row in the '70s), but first in ten years, while the..."
- Eric Olsen
Actually Pittsburgh won their four Super Bowls in six years; 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980.
2 - Temple Stark
This is the type of mistake I make ... "having been to four been to four finales, racking up two wins"
3 - blinky008
The super bowl is two close to call, so i hate to be a reg sob,but lets take a bet on the terriost , will they score or not, though i hope and pray that they do not
4 - Eric Olsen
fixed
5 - Tan The Man
Seahawks win by more than 7 pts...
6 - Eric Olsen
being in Cleveland I am compelled to root against the Steelers and thus I shall - not that I am anything but the most tepid Browns fan. My enthusiasm for the NFL took a serious beating when the Rams left L.A., as they were my childhood team and it was beyond pointless to follow them to ST. Louis; I was thereby left teamless.
If the Browns ever actually got good, I'm sure I would warm to them, as I did to the Indians in the '90s. I need a rooting interest to really follow a sport