IRVING, Texas — The 45th Super Bowl arrives tomorrow night, and for the 13th time either the Steelers or Packers are in it. The game does go on without one of these storied franchises, but not very often.
Outside of the partisan Pittsburgh and Green Bay regions this matchup resonates with anyone who appreciates the history of the NFL and the foundation on which the league stands. Close your eyes and think championship football, and it is impossible not to envision the classic uniforms worn by all those renowned legends of the game.
“It just sounds like football . . . ‘Packers, Steelers,’ ” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday.
There’s no doubt either of these teams would have been the dominant presence here all week if the other wasn’t on the scene. When the Steelers arrive — they have made it eight times — the Super Bowl is awash in black and gold. When the Packers get this far — this is their fifth Super Bowl appearance — the green and gold are everywhere.
“I always say that Pittsburgh fans are the best fans in all of sport,” Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “I think that’s why this game, why it’s going to be so awesome, because Packer fans, I know they travel and I know their passion about the Packers. That’s why I think this is the ultimate game and the ultimate two teams playing in it.”
The calling cards of these teams are legendary.
“The Steelers emblem is worldwide,” safety Troy Polamalu said. “You see the Terrible Towel in outer space.”
Fans of the Packers wear their cheeseheads with such pride they don’t seem to realize what adults look like with a bright yellow cheese triangle atop their heads.
The tradition spills out onto the field and takes root in intensely personal ways. Mike Tomlin two years ago became the youngest head coach to ever win a Super Bowl, but anyone who directs the Steelers must live up to the standard of Chuck Noll and, to a lesser extent, Bill Cowher.
Mike McCarthy had the Packers one game from the Super Bowl after the 2007 season and crashed the party this year, but he has much more to do in order to get streets or stadiums in Green Bay named after him.
“When you walk into your building every day and you have pictures of Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren — our history is amongst us all of the time,” McCarthy said. “It creates a standard and expectation that fits right along with our vision. I look at the history of the Green Bay Packers as a tremendous asset to our football team.”
The tradition runs so deep at quarterback with these franchises that greatness merely gets you in the door. Roethlisberger at 28 years old already is just 60 minutes from a third Super Bowl title. That’s Hall of Fame territory, but is not yet in the same rarified air of Terry Bradshaw, who owns four rings.
“Terry is a guy, when I got to the Steelers, you know about him,” Roethlisberger said. “When you get here it’s about four Super Bowls and about him being the man, so, you know, like I always said since day one, I’m not trying to be Terry Bradshaw. I’m just trying to be me and trying to win like he did.”
For Aaron Rodgers, trying to keep up in Green Bay means dealing with the quarterback ghosts that inhabit Lambeau Field, the aura of Bart Starr and the stranglehold Brett Favre once had on all things Packers.
“It’s great to be able to play for the Packers,” Rodgers said. “It’s a privilege. Bart has been incredible to me, in the last three years especially, with the e-mails and the conversations I’ve been able to share with him. He’s an incredible man and a guy I’d love to model my career after.”
Rodgers had to wait his turn until Favre retired, un-retired and finally left for good. Tellingly, Rodgers has sought advice from Steve Young and Kurt Warner, but he and Favre have not spoken about this Super Bowl ride.
“We had a great relationship,” Rodgers said, before clarifying. “A working relationship, and I enjoyed the time we got to spend together.”
It’s all part of the heritage that shapes both of these franchises.
