What else can you say? You wanted a dream match-up for the Super Bowl. You got it. Dominating Pittsburgh Steelers defense vs. an upstart and surprising offensive juggernaut in the Arizona Cardinals. You wanted another dream Super Bowl game? You got it.
After last year’s amazing showdown in the desert; the New York Giants pulling the ultimate upset in beating the New England Patriots in Glendale Arizona, who would have thought another game like that was possible. Well it was. And in spectacular fashion.
With a little less than three minutes left in the game, the Arizona Cardinals did the improbable. Quarterback Kurt Warner saw the mismatch and connected. The Steelers decided to keep only two safeties back, while bringing everyone else up to the line. Star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald knew what was coming. Quick slant. Warner connected with Fitzgerald for an improbable 62-yard touchdown that put the Cardinals up by 3 and giving them all momentum. It was surreal. One of the best wide receiver’s in the game, jetted down the middle of the field, leaving three Steelers defenders chasing.
Only plays earlier, the Cardinals forced the Steelers offense back to the inches line of their own end-zone. With the Cardinals blitz coming, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger knew the play. Quick slant and a first down was there’s. End of game. He threw a bullet pass to wide receiver Santonio Holmes, the ball was a little off. Holmes made a spectacular catch, that was behind him, to control the ball. But it was all for not. The ref’s blew the whistle; holding, more like mugging, on the offensive lineman Chad Hartwig. What was worse was that it happened in the end-zone. That’s two points Cardinals and the ball. At that point, it was 20-16 Pittsburgh Steelers, kicking off to the resurgent Cardinals. That’s when it happened. The Fitzgerald touchdown that seemed to seal the game. The question came down to if there was just a little too much time left on the clock for Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers.
By no surprise, yes there was too much time left on the clock. But how could the Cardinals complain. They had just pulled off one of the most spectacular plays in Super Bowl history. That didn’t faze Roethlisberger who marched his offense straight down the field to a Super Bowl victory. A victory that was won on an even more spectacular play, a tip-toe catch in the back corner of the end-zone by Santonio Holmes.
Holmes had been doing it all game. He WAS the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. Running back Willie Park and wide receiver Hines Ward, the usual offense leaders for the team, disappeared for the entire game. Holmes needed to step up. And he did. So much so, that he was named the XLIII Super Bowl MVP.
For everything that went on and for all the spectacular plays, you really had to feel bad for the Arizona Cardinals. For a team that hasn’t won a Super Bowl in over four decades, you felt their pain. The last time the franchise won the game of all games was when the team was still playing in Chicago. They were so close. And they came so far. But it just wasn’t meant to be.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have now gone on to win their sixth Super Bowl game. That’s the most for any NFL franchise, with the San Francisco 49er’s and Dallas Cowboys having five each. The Steelers are probably hands down, the best franchise of all time in terms NFL teams. Yes, there are the two aforementioned teams, as well as others like the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. But none of these have as many Super Bowl victories as the Steelers. The Steelers just won their second Super Bowl victory in four years, they wrestled a little of that flare away from the New England Patriots. And With Ben Roethlisberger and that dominating Steelers defense sticking around for a while, we may see even more Super Bowl wins for the Steelers. Only time will tell.