Green Bay Packers 2010 in Review: The Super Bowl (Part 3 of 4)

After three road wins, including victories against the top seeded Atlanta Falcons and the rival Chicago Bears, the Packers headed to Dallas to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh entered the playoffs after home victories over the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets.

The Steelers were looking to add to their NFL record six Super Bowl wins, and going for their third Super Bowl win in the past six years. The Packers, meanwhile, looked for ring number four in their first Super Bowl appearance since 1997, a loss to Denver.

The Packers opened the scoring on their second drive. Starting from their own 20, Aaron Rodgers drove the Packers the length of the field and found Jordy Nelson on a 29 yard touchdown pass. The Packers took a 7-0 lead.

A penalty on the ensuing kickoff backed the Steelers inside their own 10 yard line. On the following play, Packer defensive tackle Howard Green drove an offensive lineman into Roethlisberger, forcing a bad pass. Nick Collins picked off the underthrown ball, and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown, putting the Packers up 14-0 in the first quarter.



The Steelers added a field goal to make the score 14-3. A few drives later, Roethlisberger was again intercepted, this time by Jarrett Bush.

Four plays later, Rodgers found Greg Jennings for a 21 yard touchdown strike to give the Packers a 21-3 lead with 2:24 left in the first half.

Roethlisberger led the Steelers on an efficient two-minute drill and found Hines Ward for a touchdown with seconds left in the half, making the score 21-10. This drive was significant as it saw both Sam Shields and Charles Woodson leave the game with injuries.

Over halftime, Woodson was given an x-ray which clearly showed a snapped collarbone. Unable to continue playing and overcome with emotions, Woodson was barely able to impress upon his teammates what this game meant to him.

Luckily for the Packers, the extended halftime break (30 minutes instead of 10) gave them enough time to reconfigure their defensive gameplan to make up for the injuries.

In the second half, the Steelers were able to score quickly, thanks largely to running back Rashard Mendenhall. The Steelers closed the gap to 21-17.

The third quarter ended with the score still 21-17. On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Steelers attempted to run at Clay Matthews. Matthews and Ryan Pickett collided with Mendenhaal, and Matthews was able to put a hit squarley on the football, jarring it loose. Desmond Bishop recovered the fumble, and the Packers had great field position near midfield.



The Packers went to work and quickly scored on a second Rodgers to Jennings connection, this time from eight yards out. The Packers extended their lead to 28-17.

Pittsburgh responded on the ensuing drive with a 25 yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace. The Steelers went for two and succeeded, bringing the game to within three points at 28-25.

The Packers drove right back down the field, but their drive stalled inside the ten yard line. On third down, Rodgers missed Nelson by inches and the Pack settled for a field goal to go up 31-25 with 2:07 left in the game.

Hoping to pull off a second two-minute drill touchdown, Roethlisberger and the Steelers started their final drive from their own 17. After giving up some yards, the Packers forced a turnover on downs, with Tramon Williams breaking up a fourth down pass intended for Mike Wallace.

Two kneel-downs later, the Packers were Super Bowl champs.

Aaron Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP after his stellar performance. Rodgers finished 24 of 39 for 304 yards and three touchdowns, good enough for a passer rating of 111.5. Despite many dropped passes from Packer receivers, Rodgers was able to avoid mistakes and complete passes to eight different receivers.

Jordy Nelson had a career day, catching nine passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. Jennings added four catches for 64 yards and two scores, while James Jones caught five balls for 50 yards.

The packers ran sparingly, but James Starks managed 52 yards on 11 carries.

After a season filled with injuries, the Packers were able to overcome losses of integral players in the biggest stage of all to bring the Lombardi Trophy back to its rightful home.

"We've been a team that's overcome adversity all year," said Greg Jennings. "Our head captain goes down, emotional in the locker room. Our No. 1 receiver goes down, more emotions are going, flying in the locker room. But we find a way to bottle it up and exert it all out here on the field."

Packers 2010:
Part 1: The Regular Season
Part 2: The Playoffs
Part 4: A Look to the Off-Season