Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go

I grew up 30 miles from beautiful downtown Pittsburgh and all I know is the Steelers. As a little girl I knew the starting line up of every Steelers team for years. The Super Bowl and winning is all I knew growing up. Now that I live in Cleveland, OH, for the most part I keep my love of the Steelers under wraps. I have one shirt, one sweatshirt and jibbits on my crocs, but that is it. I will not be doing anything beneficial to my triathlon training between 6pm and 10 pm this Sunday evening.

The following is an interesting article I read in the Cleveland Plain Dealer last weekend:

There are XLV reasons to be interested in the Steelers-Packers Super BowlPublished: Saturday, January 29, 2011
By Tony Grossi, The Plain Dealer

Keith Srakocic / Associated Press

Green Bay still calls itself "Titletown, U.S.A.", but it's the Steelers who have more Lombardi trophies than any other NFL team.


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Super Bowl XLV, featuring bedrock NFL franchises Green Bay and Pittsburgh, is being touted as one of the sport's greatest championship matchups. What a way to kick off a work stoppage.

The game will be played next Sunday in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Because of temporary seating and standing room areas, the game is expected to break the Super Bowl attendance record of 103,985.

Analysts are predicting the game will also attract a record viewing audience and top the 153.4 million total viewers of last year's game, which was the most watched television event in history.

To get a jump on the game, here are 45 interesting tidbits about Super Bowl XLV.

History

1. The Super Bowl trophy is named after Vince Lombardi, who became a legend as coach of the Packers from 1959-67 and died in 1970. The team that has won the most Lombardi trophies is the Steelers (six).

2. The Packers won nine NFL championship titles before the Super Bowl was born for the 1966 season, then they won the first two AFL-NFL World Championship Games before it was renamed the Super Bowl. They have three Super Bowl titles overall.

3. The Steelers are 6-1 in seven Super Bowl appearances. The Packers are 3-1.

4. The Steelers' 33 postseason wins are tied with Dallas for first in history. The Packers' 28 are third. Green Bay's .636 win percentage in postseason games (28-16) ranks No. 1 in the league. Pittsburgh's .623 (33-20) is second.

5. As the NFC's No. 6 playoff seed, Green Bay defeated the top three seeds on the road -- Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia -- to get here. The last team to win the Super Bowl after winning three playoff games on the road was Pittsburgh in 2005.

6. The Packers and Steelers have co-existed 78 years. (The Steelers were the Pirates until 1940). This is their first meeting in a postseason game.

7. The Packers have 21 players and coaches in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Steelers have 18, including current defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and chairman emeritus Dan Rooney, the current U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.


8. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can join elite company if he wins his third Super Bowl. Only Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Tom Brady and Troy Aikman have at least three Super Bowl wins in their careers. Brady, who is still active, is the only one not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

9. Roethlisberger's 10-2 (.833) record as a starting quarterback in the postseason ranks second in history to former Packers QB Bart Starr (.900, 9-1).

10. Roethlisberger wears No. 7 and Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers wears No. 12. The last time opposing QBs in a Super Bowl wore those numbers was in the 1999 game when Denver's John Elway (7) opposed Atlanta's Chris Chandler (12).

11. Packers fullback John Kuhn earned a Super Bowl ring on the Pittsburgh practice squad after the 2005 season. He could become the 48th player to win a Super Bowl with more than one team.

12. Steelers linebacker James Harrison was the NFL defensive player of the year for 2008, the last time the Steelers went to the Super Bowl. Packers cornerback Charles Woodson was the NFL defensive player of the year for 2009. Packers linebacker Clay Matthews III is a leading candidate for the award this year.

13. Matthews is the son of former Browns linebacker Clay Matthews and is the third generation of his family to play in the NFL. Grandpa Clay, 83, was a defensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1950s.

14. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has celebrated shoulder-length hair that earned him a lucrative marketing deal with Head & Shoulders shampoo. Matthews has shoulder-length hair and earned a lucrative deal with Suave shampoo.

15. The Packers have nine players who played for Mid-American Conference schools. The Steelers have six.

16. Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham was on the Browns' roster for one month in spring of 2010. One day at an organized team activity practice, he missed three field goals in a row.

Coaches

17. Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin, 38, is the youngest coach to take his team to a Super Bowl twice. He won at age 36. The next-youngest winning coach was Jon Gruden, 39.

18. Green Bay's Mike McCarthy is a native of the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

19. McCarthy was 38-26 in his first four seasons as Packers coach and reached the Super Bowl in his fifth season. Former Packers coach Mike Holmgren was 38-26 in his first four seasons and reached the Super Bowl in his fifth season. McCarthy is 4-2 in postseason games. Holmgren was 6-3 prior to his first Super Bowl.

20. Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers held the same job with the Steelers from 1992-94.

21. Packers outside linebackers coach Kevin Greene played with the Steelers from 1993-95.

22. Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements is from McKees Rocks, Pa., and coached with the Steelers from 2001-03.

23. Packers secondary-safeties coach Darren Perry played for the Steelers from 1992-98 and coached for them 2003-06.

24. Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau coached defensive backs for the Packers from 1976-79.

25. Steelers assistant coaches Bruce Arians, John Mitchell and Keith Butler formerly coached with the Browns.

26. Steelers quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner is the son of former Browns cornerback Ross Fichtner and was born in Cleveland.

27. Steelers defensive end Nick Eason is making his second Super Bowl appearance since leaving the Browns following the 2006 season.

Teams

28. The Steelers ranked first in fewest points and fewest touchdowns allowed. The Packers ranked second.

29. Both teams play the 3-4 defensive system, making it the first Super Bowl to match two 3-4 defenses.

30. The Packers led the NFL in holding opposing quarterbacks to a composite passer rating of 67.2. The Steelers were second at 73.1.

31. The Steelers and Ravens tied for the league lead by yielding five rushing touchdowns. The Packers were next with six.

32. The Steelers were first in sacks with 48. The Packers were second with 47.

33. The Packers led the league with 91 projected games missed by injured starters. The Steelers were third with 51 games lost.

34. The Packers did not lose a game by more than four points and never trailed by more than seven points all season.

35. The last time the teams met was on Dec. 20, 2009, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers won, 37-36, as the teams combined for 1,011 total yards.

36. The Packers had six players selected to the Pro Bowl. The Steelers had four. Neither team's quarterback was selected.

37. The Steelers were 4-2 against common opponents. The Packers were 3-3. Both teams lost to the New England Patriots. The Browns beat the Patriots.

38. The Steelers have 15 players on their Super Bowl roster 30 years old or more. The Packers have eight. The Browns had 19 last year.

39. The Packers' NFC championship season began with a 27-24 loss to the Browns in the first exhibition game.

Miscellaneous

40. The Terrible Towel, created by former Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope, made its debut at a playoff game in 1975. Since 1997, the Terrible Towel has been made by McArthur Towel and Sports based in Madison, Wisc. The company is rushing to produce a batch of Titletown Towels to honor the hometown Packers.

41. Packers fans wear Cheesehead hats, which were first made in 1987 by Foamation, Inc., of St. Francis, Wisc.

42. The Packers are the only community-owned franchise in American professional sports with more than 112,000 shareholders. Subsequent to their existence, the NFL passed ownership rules that prohibit more than 32 owners of a club and mandate at least one hold at least 30 percent ownership.

43. The Packers are designated the home team and will wear their green jerseys. The Steelers will wear white jerseys, just as they did when they won the Super Bowl title following the 2005 and 2008 seasons.

44. With a population of 101,412, Green Bay is the smallest city with a major professional sports franchise. There will be more people in Cowboys Stadium for the Super Bowl.

45. Ticket prices for Green Bay's first appearance in Super Bowl I were $12, $10 and $6. Ticket prices for this year's game are $1,200, $900, $800, $600, $350 and $200.