Super Bowl XLV is in the record books, and the Green Bay Packers — led by MVP Aaron Rodgers — beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to win the fourth Super Bowl title in the franchise’s history.
But for me, the story of the night was more about the poor play of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger than the MVP-caliber performance of Rodgers.
Roethlisberger finished a mediocre 25 of 40 for 263 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. And really, the only reason he even hit mediocre numbers was because the Steelers fell behind early (due to his two interceptions), could no longer rely on the run and become pass-heavy, and the Packers were without Charles Woodson and Sam Shields for some time.
In the end, the difference turned out to be Roethlisberger’s dreadful pick-six to Nick Collins. Roethlisberger was forced to stand in the pocket and make a throw, and it came out like a duck with one broken wing. And no, it was not because of the hit he took; he took the hit after the throw.
Dom Capers and the Packers defense did what every team that plays Roethlisberger should do — they mush-rushed, contained his ability to run, and made him beat them from the pocket. Two costly interceptions and several missed throws later, he proved once and for all that he cannot do it.
So after this dreadful Super Bowl showing, can we admit once and for all that Roethlisberger is far from elite and is much closer to a middle-of-the-pack quarterback? He’s nowhere close to Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, or even Philip Rivers or Rodgers.
Instead, he’s closer to Eli Manning, Tony Romo, Matt Schaub, and Joe Flacco.
We’ll talk more about Roethlisberger and the Super Bowl as the week progresses, but I’ve been saying for years that the Hall of Fame talk was complete insanity, and the talk of putting him in elite company was moronic.
I’d consider this vindication.