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Upper right: Head coach Bill Cowher celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL at Detroit's Ford Field. Getty Images Sport / Photographer: Harry How
Lower right: Steelers fans blanket Ford Field with "terrible towels" during Super Bowl XL. Getty Images Sport Photographer: Paul Spinelli There's really no point wondering whether all this should matter. We know it shouldn't matter. We know there is no verifiable explanation for why it does matter, nor is there any justification for it having the importance that people around here seem to enjoy going out of their way to attach to it. Which is kind of the point, isn't it? Just as a hand doesn't need one more ring to adorn its thumb, a city doesn't need one more championship from its football team, especially if it's a storied franchise that already owns four of the things. Some hands have no rings. Some cities have no titles. OK, that's the starkly logical viewpoint. Accurate as far as it goes, but it overlooks that ancient Pittsburgh tradition of using the word "need," when the intended meaning is really closer to "want." Say something often enough and pretty soon the intended meaning can get lost in translation. In their hearts, Pittsburghers may have only "wanted" a fifth Super Bowl championship for their beloved Steelers this winter, but they sure acted as if they needed it.
"It's a really curious phenomenon," says Mike Wagner, the former Steelers defensive back who helped win four rings and has stayed in the city for 26 years, cheering on his old team in its quest to win a fifth. "We're a small town, and when the team does well, the whole city beats on its chest. "We all know there are many more important things than athletics, but it's particularly true here that this team serves as a great source of pride in this town." This season, that pride seemed to expand in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XL. Each playoff victory - coming as it did in distant and hostile National Football League ports of call - seemed to create a kind of improbable, cockeyed momentum that made the Super Bowl more of an inevitability than an obstacle. First came the sweet retribution in Cincinnati against the upstart Bengals. In the regular season, the team in stripes had somehow finished ahead of the Steelers in its own division, but that never felt right. But by season's end, it was 31-17, Steelers. Now, that was more like it. Then, there was the emotional roller coaster in Indianapolis, fueled by inconsistent officiating and an other-worldly fumble by none other than Jerome Bettis, whose untimely gaffe was made worse by the fact that it could have been his final act in a Steelers uniform. Not to worry, however. Bettis was saved by an equally unlikely tackle by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. And then the Steelers were saved by a badly botched field goal by the normally reliable Colts kicker. Final score: 21-18, Steelers. Is something special going on here? By the time our team got to Denver, all of Pittsburgh had jumped aboard the bandwagon and the mile-high atmosphere was no impediment for these high-flying Steelers. A little more Roethlisberger magic, a lot more disruption from the likes of Joey Porter and Troy Polamalu, and the trip to Detroit was ensured. Final: 34-17, Steelers. Was that all? It seemed to be getting easier. So that was that. And the game that Pittsburgh has always felt a proprietary connection with was once more on the season schedule. Only this time, the Super Bowl had a different feel. Last year, it was anticipated; next year it will be demanded; this year it just showed up. "I think that added to the experience this time," says Andy Russell, a star linebacker on Pittsburgh's first two Super Bowl teams. "I always felt this was a much better team than its record, but a lot of people were surprised. And that kept them riveted to the TV screens during the playoffs." Not that the early pessimism was undeserved. The Steelers did not secure a playoff spot until the final week of the season; and, after losing at home to Cincinnati in early December, the team's record - deserved or not - was a modest 7-5. Missing the playoffs was a real possibility. Who knew this was a good thing?
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Maybe you heard their desire when they were honking their horns on the streets, minutes after the Steelers defeated the Denver Broncos to earn a trip to their sixth Super Bowl. Maybe you saw it in the way they pawed over
any sort of Steelers-related merchandise during that
interminable two-week run-up to the big game. Maybe you got a sense of it when you read about the willingness of thousands of Pittsburgh fans to pay for game tickets at prices that would have served as significant down payments on many Allegheny County homes back when the Steelers won their first Super Bowl. |
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