Plenty of Blame to Go Around

People are often quick to place blame on their own teams when they lose rather than praise the opposition for winning the game on their own merit. In many cases this line of thinking is incorrect and the other team simply played better and/or deserved to win the game. The Steelers, however, deserve much of the blame for their loss in Super Bowl XLV. Don’t get me wrong, the Packers did enough to deserve to win the football game. Green Bay played mistake-free football, made big plays when they needed to on both sides of the ball and put the game on the arm of their superstar quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, to come out with the Lombardi Trophy. The Steelers, however, did more than their fair share to help the Packers hoist the trophy in the air.

Ben Roethlisberger had a subpar performance, especially by his lofty standards. Roethlisberger not only threw two interceptions but he missed a number of throws that he usually makes, most notably on the final fourth down pass to Mike Wallace. Roethlisberger’s pick six hurt, but it was one of those nothing you could do about it plays. His second interception, however, was a bad read, a bad throw and a big momentum killer for the Steelers who were moving the ball again after cutting the Packers lead to 14-3. There is certainly blame to be placed on Roethlisberger, but he is far from alone in that regard.

Rashard Mendenhall had a decent game himself. He ran for 63 yards on 14 carries including a nice eight-yard touchdown run. Mendenhall’s fumble, however, was probably the single biggest play of the game. The Steelers had cut the lead to four points, had begun establishing themselves on the ground and had all of the momentum on their side heading into the fourth quarter when Mendenhall fumbled on a second down and two play from the Packers’ 33-yard-line after being hit in the backfield. The play gave Green Bay the ball near midfield where they went on to score the eventual winning touchdown. The Steelers never quite recovered.

The Steelers defense, known all year for its ability to make big plays and prevent big plays from the opposition, accomplished neither. Dick LeBeau’s guys were unable to prevent Green Bay from scoring on both chances following Pittsburgh turnovers and were even worse in third down situations. Everyone will remember the 3rd and 10 pass to Greg Jennings in the fourth quarter as one of the key moments of the game, and it certainly was, but the Packers also converted five other critical third downs in the game and completed six passes over 20 yards. It was a poor performance from a unit that was widely considered the league’s best.

The special teams provided solid coverage and some decent returns but did their part in contributing mightily to the Steelers mistakes. Kicker Shaun Suisham missed a 52-yard field goal in the third quarter which would have cut the Packers lead to one. Sure, a 52-yarder is anything but a “gimme”, but indoors with no wind and perfect conditions this kick needs to be made. Suisham choked and kicked it about three miles wide left. Keyaron Fox, the Steelers special teams’ captain no-less, had an indefensible personal foul penalty called on the final kick return. This pushed the Steelers back to their own 13-yard-line to begin their final two-minute drive, one they would ultimately fail on with a chance to win the game.

Super Bowl winners simply do not make these kinds of mistakes. One or two mistakes can be overcome but when you start piling on the amount of mistakes that the Steelers made, in every facet of the game, it becomes near impossible to overcome. The Steelers tried their best to conquer them, nonetheless, and with two minutes and only 87 yards standing in their way they had an opportunity, but once again mistakes got the best of them. The Green Bay Packers deserve to be Super Bowl Champions today but in this game, it really was a case of the Pittsburgh Steelers not deserving.