Super Bowl XL

This was easily one of the worst Super Bowls I've ever watched.

I know a lot of people were complaining beforehand that Pittsburgh and Seattle are boring teams that no one but their fans care about, but I really thought there was a lot of potential for a good game. I never thought that Seattle had a chance of winning it, simply because I'm from the Pacific Northwest, and I know that no team from Oregon or Washington has a chance of taking care of business when it matters. The Trailblazers, the Supersonics, the Seahawks; they all kill their fans when it counts, and I never had any illusions that this would be any different. Still, I expected the game to be decent to watch. I figured that at least Pittsburgh would look good while they crushed the Seahawks' fans hopes and dreams, but unfortunately, they didn't.

I'm not sure why Bill Cowher decided to switch things up, but for some reason, the Steelers came out running. A lot. I know that Pittsburgh has been known as a running-oriented team for the past few years, but their success over the second half of this season and the playoffs came when they decided to open up the playbook and start each game with Big Ben throwing the mid-range passes. It helped set up the run, and it got Roethlisberger into a rhythm. In this game, they never got their timing going early on, and all of Big Ben's early passes seemed to come when he was forced out of the pocket or on little dink-and-dunk throws. After a stellar postseason, the young Steeler QB looked pretty bad in the biggest game of the season. I'm sure a lot of that can be attributed to nerves, but I think the poor play calling early on didn't help.

And although Seattle only put up 10 points, that had more to do with the Seahawks inability to convert than it did with the Steelers' defense. Troy Polamalu and Jerry Porter were pretty much non-factors in the game, mainly because Pittsburgh stopped doing what it has done so well all year -- blitz. They blitzed their way past the Bengals, Colts and Broncos, but they dceided to rush four guys for most of the game and let Matt Hasselbeck have a ton of time. Of course, being a Seahawk, he didn't really do much with all that time, but he could have.

All in all, neither team looked good. There were only one or two exciting plays in the whole game, and even some of the biggest plays, like Willie Parker's long touchdown run, were pretty boring. He basically hit the hole, broke maybe one tackle, and went untouched in the end zone. Sweet. Still, no matter how boring or bad the Steelers might have played, any real Northwest fan knew what was coming before Super Bowl XL ever started. I knew the Seahawks never had a chance, but I hoped that they might look decent while they lost.

I'm not sorry that one is behind us, and I'm already trying to forget it. Here's to next year's matchup . . . Bengals vs. Bears!!!