Then There Were Two
When the season started on September 4, 32 teams were alive and entertaining Super Bowl dreams. Twenty weeks of football action later, there are only two left. One team a perennial favorite who few are surprised to see here, the other comes as a shocker to most. One team is playing for their sixth Super Bowl ring, which would be a record, the other is playing in their first Super Bowl in franchise history. One team is built on defense, the other offense. However, in the grand scheme of things, that is all essentially irrelevant. What matters is that on Sunday the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals won their respective games, and are now heading for a Super Bowl clash.
When the season started, Arizona was an underdog to be here to say the least. Quite frankly, in the eyes of many fans they were an underdog each and every week of the playoffs. Now, here they are headed to Tampa thanks to a 32-25 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Larry Fitzgerald once again had a huge day, catching three touchdowns in the first half and finishing with nine catches for 152 yards. In fact, at halftime this game was looking like a repeat of Arizona’s trouncing of the Carolina Panthers last week. However, to Philly’s credit, they hung in there, and in fact took the lead briefly in the fourth quarter 25-24. Kurt Warner led the Cardinals back down the field soon after however and regained the lead for good. Now, Arizona is headed to their first Super Bowl in franchise history in hopes of winning their first title since 1947 when the team was still in Chicago.
In the AFC, Pittsburgh overcame an injury to Hines Ward early in the game and a tough Baltimore team to win. The big story, as you might expect, was the Steeler defense, who caused four turnovers, including three picks by Joe Flacco, who up until this point of the postseason had been unflappable. Alas, the Pittsburgh defense proved to be took much for him, and the final blow likely came when Troy Polamalu returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to make the score 23-14, which is how the game ended. Mike Tomlin will become the youngest coach to ever coach in the Super Bowl as he tries to bring Pittsburgh their sixth Super Bowl in franchise history, which would break their tie with San Francisco and Dallas for the record.
This is a very intriguing match up, as most Super Bowls are. Can Fitzgerald keep up his stellar play against Pittsburgh’s stifling D? Will the Arizona defense continue their surprisingly good play? Can Ken Wisenhunt, Arizona’s head coach, beat his former team in Pittsburgh for whom he was the offensive coordinator? Which team will make Super Bowl history this year? Well, there is plenty of time for us to ruminate on these questions as the anticipation builds for Super Bowl XLIII.
If you enjoyed this post then try these:
- A Fantastic Finish to the Football Season
- Super Bowl XLIII Preview
- Ranking the Past Ten Super Bowls
- Get ready for the battle of the defense
- Steelers Start Title Defense with Win
