The Steelers will not be stopped.
But it is more than the Steelers’ will to win. It is the simple fact that in these playoffs, no team8212;including Arizona8212;has the tools to outplay them.
Pittsburgh soundly beat the Chargers, who were rolling with momentum and even took down their archrival, the Baltimore Ravens, who not only had the AFC on the line, but their pride as well.
All season, the Steelers have been consistent and have taken one game at a time. In each game they exploited their strengths8212;their No. 1 defense in the NFL8212;and worked on improving their weaknesses8212;their offensive rushing.
In the past, the Cardinals have been an average team, with just six playoff appearances and four division championships since they came into the league in 1920. This will be their first Super Bowl appearance.
The Cardinals did not have an outstanding season this year, either, ending the regular season with a record of 9-7. Arizona is only the second team in history with seven losses to reach the Super Bowl. The Cardinals played inconsistently and finished out the season with a slump. Although they gained momentum in the postseason, their ability to play good football game after game remains in question.
After their 8-8 performance in the 2007 season, the Cardinals wanted to be tougher. They wanted to have better defense, and they wanted to play a more physical game. These were all traits of their “idols,” the Pittsburgh Steelers.
So, as the story goes, they went out and hired Ken Whisenhunt, the Steelers’ offensive coordinator at the time, and he brought their offensive line coach Russ Grimm with him to transform the Cards into “mini-Steelers.” Who can really blame the Cardinals for wanting to be more like their foe? Although the Cardinals have achieved success in those areas lately, the Steelers have been consistent in their tough defense and physical play for much longer than the Cards have.
The Steelers, on the other hand, will be standing on familiar ground Sunday8212;they’ve had six Super Bowl appearances and have walked away with a victory five of those times. Their latest championship came in 2006 when their defense held off Seattle 21-10.
In that championship, Ben Roethlisberger became the youngest starting quaterback to win a Super Bowl. The best part about that statistic is that he was only 23, which left him plenty of years to mature and do it again. Three years later, he faces his chance to use his experience to guide his team to another Super Bowl victory.
Along with Roethlisberger, 19 other players from the Super Bowl XL team are still on the Steelers team. This experience will lead them past the naïve Cardinals, who only have five players with any Super Bowl wisdom, and give them the upper hand upon reaching the biggest field in football.
Although an underdog team shouldn’t be overlooked in any way, Pittsburgh has the will and the power behind it to defeat the fiery “Cinderella story” team of 2009.
w.obannon@
chronicle.utah.edu
Whitney O’Bannon