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By BARRY WILNER
AP Pro
Football Writer
ARLINGTON,
Texas (AP) -- Forget Lombardi on Broadway. Green Bay has
the newest Super Bowl hit: Aaron Rodgers.
Capping
one of the greatest postseasons for any quarterback, Rodgers led the
Packers to their first NFL championship in 14 years Sunday, 31-25 over
the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Packers reclaimed the Vince Lombardi
Trophy, named for their legendary coach who won the first two Super
Bowls and is making his own star turn in New York these days in the
play named after him.
Rodgers, the game's MVP,
thrilled his legion of Cheesehead fans with a spectacular six-game
string that should finally erase the bitterness of the Brett Favre
separation in Green Bay. He's now equal with Favre in Super Bowl wins,
and he extended the Packers' record of NFL titles to 13, nine before
the Super Bowl era.
"It's what I dreamt about as a
little kid watching Joe Montana and Steve Young," Rodgers said, "and we
just won the Super Bowl."
The Packers QB threw for
three touchdowns, two to Greg Jennings, and the Packers (14-6) overcame
even more injuries, building a 21-3 lead, then hanging on to become the
second No. 6 seed to win the championship. Coincidentally, the 2005
Steelers were the other.
Rodgers threw for 304
yards, including a 29-yard touchdown to Jordy Nelson, who had nine
catches for 140 yards to make up for three big drops. Rodgers found
Jennings, normally his favorite target, for 21- and 8-yard
scores.
"Wow! It's a great day to be great, baby,"
Jennings said.
Then the favored Packers held on as
Pittsburgh (14-5) stormed back.
"We've been a team
that's overcome adversity all year," Jennings said, who noted injuries
to Charles Woodson and Donald Driver. "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."
Few teams have been as resourceful as these
Packers, who couldn't wait to touch the trophy honoring their greatest
coach -- and their title. Several of them kissed it as Cowboys great
Roger Staubach walked through a line of green and
gold.
"Vince Lombardi is coming back to Green Bay,"
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said as the silver prize was handed to
the team.
After sitting for three seasons, Rodgers
took the Packers to two late-season victories just to make the playoffs
as a wild card. Then he guided them to wins at Philadelphia, Atlanta
and archrival Chicago before his biggest achievement -- against a
Pittsburgh team ranked second in defense.
They
barely survived a sensational rally by the Steelers, who still own the
most Super Bowl rings -- six in eight tries. But Pittsburgh failed to
get its third championship in six years with quarterback Ben
Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger's season began with a four-game
suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. It ended
with Roethlisberger standing on the sideline, his head down, hands on
his hips, feeling something he never experienced: defeat in a Super
Bowl.
"I feel like I let the city of Pittsburgh
down, the fans, my coaches and my teammates," Roethlisberger said, "and
it's not a good feeling."
Not even a decidedly
black-and-gold crowd, with Terrible Towels swirling throughout the $1.2
billion stadium, could make a difference for the mistake-prone
Steelers. Their two biggest defensive stars -- Defensive Player of the
Year safety Troy Polamalu and outside linebacker James Harrison -- were
virtually invisible. The offense didn't seem to miss outstanding rookie
center Maurkice Pouncey, who was out with an ankle injury, but
Roethlisberger only occasionally made key plays until the second
half.
The biggest plays were left to Rodgers, Nick
Collins with a 37-yard interception return for a TD, Jennings, Nelson,
and the rest of the guys in green and gold. In the end, they gave coach
Mike McCarthy his first Super Bowl victory against the team he rooted
for while growing up in Pittsburgh. Besides Lombardi, Mike Holmgren won
a title in 1997 with Favre.
"This is a great group
of men here, a lot of character," Rodgers said. "We went through a lot
together."
Even on Sunday, they did. Woodson went
out late in the first half with a collarbone injury, a few plays after
Driver was sidelined with an ankle problem.
"It was
very difficult to watch," Woodson said, "but it feels good
now."
Woodson saw the Steelers, who rallied from a
21-7 halftime hole against Baltimore three weeks ago, show the same
resilience. A 37-yard catch and run by Antwaan Randle El -- an almost
forgotten figure during his return season with just 22 receptions --
sparked a quick 77-yard drive. Hines Ward, the 2006 Super Bowl MVP, had
39 yards on three catches during the series, including an 8-yard TD
when he completely fooled Jarrett Bush.
A quick
defensive stop and a 50-yard drive to Rashard Mendenhall's 8-yard
touchdown run made it 21-17. But with Pittsburgh driving for perhaps
its first lead of the game, Mendenhall was stripped at the Green Bay 33
by Clay Matthews -- one of the few plays the All-Pro linebacker made.
The Packers recovered, and Rodgers hit Jennings for 8 yards and the
winning points.
Pittsburgh's last gasp was on a
25-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace and a brilliant pitchout by
Roethlisberger to Randle El for a 2-point
conversion.
Mason Crosby added a 23-yard field goal
for the Packers and the Steelers had no more comebacks in
them.
"You play to be world champions," Matthews
said, "and that's what we are today."
Updated February 6, 2011
