Super Bowl XLIII
Steelers vs. Cardinals

01/30/2009
By Douglas E. Roorbach

Revenge, vindication, generational conflict, dysfunctional relationships, questioned loyalties, “family” feuding, physical trauma—are these part of a Shakespearean drama? The plot lines from last week’s soap operas? A nightly installment of E! News? No—they’re just some of the story lines leading up to America’s annual bacchanal of sports, commercialism and overindulgence: the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XLIII (that’s 43 if you’re a little fuzzy on your Roman numerals) kicks off around 6:20 p.m. Sunday, February 1, featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Arizona Cardinals, or—if you don’t care about the game—featuring Jennifer Hudson singing the national anthem, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band providing the halftime entertainment and all of the commercials that will be the talk of the office at the water cooler on Monday.

If you do follow football, though, the two teams include enough history and intrigue to hold your interest until the pads start popping. First, consider the pedigrees of these two franchises.

The Cardinals trace their history to the dawn of professional football, 1898, in Chicago. The team began play as the Morgan Athletic Club on Chicago’s South Side. It earned its longstanding nickname when owner Chris O’Brien bought used maroon jerseys from the University of Chicago. “That’s not maroon, it’s cardinal red!” O’Brien declared of his bargain buy. In 1920 the Cardinals paid $100 to become one of 11 charter members of the American Professional Football League, which later became the NFL.

They won the 1925 NFL regular season title (the league didn’t have playoffs until 1933) and the 1947 championship game, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21. That game was a high-water mark, however; it would be 51 years before the team won another postseason game!

By then the Cardinals were several time zones away. They left Chicago in 1960 for St. Louis and then moved to Arizona in the spring of 1988. The team has drawn numerous fans to its games in the desert, but they haven’t had much success on the field. They went to the playoffs just once—in 1998—before this year’s three-game postseason winning streak put them in Sunday’s big game.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has been to the Super Bowl six times and won five—including XL in January 2006. The team joined the NFL as the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1933 for a franchise fee of $2,500 and started losing. It wasn’t until 1942—following a name change to the Steelers in 1940—that the team had a winning season.

The Steelers’ history changed in January 1969 when they hired Chuck Noll, just 37 at the time, to coach the team. After a terrible 1-13 season, the Steelers used their high draft picks to select nine players who would wind up in the Hall of Fame and make up the core of a team that went on to win four Super Bowls in a six-year span during the 1970s.
Noll would coach the Steelers for 23 years, retiring in December 1991. The next month the Steelers hired 34-year-old Bill Cowher to replace Noll. Cowher had the Steelers in the playoffs in each of his first five years, taking them to Super Bowl XXX in January 1996 (they lost to the Cowboys). Cowher would coach the team to its fifth Super Bowl win in February 2006, then one more year before stepping down after 15 seasons in January 2007.

That’s when the Cardinals and Steelers histories would intertwine. Ken Whisenhunt was Cowher’s offensive coordinator and many believed he would succeed Cowher as the Steelers’ next head coach. When the Steelers opened the job search and started interviewing outside candidates, though, Whisenhunt accepted an offer from the Cardinals to become their head coach.

After the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin, their offensive line coach Russ Grimm followed Whisenhunt to Arizona to become assistant coach for the Cardinals. Although the two haven’t said so publicly, many NFL insiders say that Whisenhunt and Grimm see the Super Bowl as an opportunity to show the Steelers they should have hired them to fill the top spots rather than looking elsewhere.

The Steelers’ choice, though, has proved popular among his players, including “Big” Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger was the winning quarterback for Cowher (and offensive coordinator Whisenhunt) in Super Bowl XL in his second year in the league, but he didn’t exactly sparkle. He had one of the worst passing games of his career, completing just 9 of 21 passes for 123 yards and two interceptions; his passer rating of 22.6 was the lowest in Super Bowl history by a winning quarterback.

Roethlisberger has said that he wants to shine in this year’s game to make up for that lackluster effort. Behind the scenes, it is rumored that he has no particular fondness for his former offensive coordinator, Whisenhunt, either, and would like nothing better than to put up a strong effort against him.

His opposite number, Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, will make his third Super Bowl appearance. He won the game’s Most Valuable Player award back in January 2000, leading the St. Louis Rams to a win over the Tennessee Titans in SB XXXIV. Two years later, Warner was on the losing end as the New England Patriots beat the Rams 20-17.
This year has been one of redemption for Warner. After winning the league’s MVP award in 1999 and 2001, his career waned. He signed as a free agent with the New York Giants in 2004, but lasted only a year before signing with the Cardinals in March 2005.

The Cardinals didn’t show much faith in Warner, drafting USC’s Matt Leinart third overall in 2006 to be his replacement. After Leinart stumbled early in 2007, though, the Cardinals benched him. Warner seized the opportunity and has resurrected his career. The Cards’ pass-happy offense suits him just fine, and he racked up impressive numbers during the 2008 regular season, including a 67% completion percentage and 30 touchdowns against just 14 interceptions.

Warner’s favorite target is Larry Fitzgerald, who caught 96 passes for 1431 yards and 12 touchdowns. Fitzgerald wears #11—although one of ESPN’s commentators said last week that he’s so good it’s really #1 twice—and has given opponents fits in the playoffs, adding 23 more catches and five TDs in Arizona’s three playoff games.

The Cards went 9-7 in the regular season to win the weak NFC West division and the fourth seed (out of six) in the NFC playoffs. They weren’t expected to do much in the playoffs, but in the first round they beat Atlanta 30-24 and in the second round they traveled to Carolina and crushed the Panthers 33-13. They earned their Super Bowl berth with a fourth-quarter comeback over the favored Philadelphia Eagles, 32-25.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has been dominant all year, winning five of their first six games on their way to a 12-4 record and the AFC North division title and a first-round playoff bye. Pittsburgh beat San Diego 35-24 in the second round and then manhandled division rival Baltimore 23-14 to punch its ticket to Tampa.

So who will come out on top? Most experts feel that Pittsburgh’s tough defense—the best in the league—will put enough pressure on Warner to disrupt the Cardinals’ passing attack and win. The Cardinals will hope that their defense—which has stiffened considerably in the playoffs—can keep the Steelers’ relatively mundane offense off the board and that Warner and Fitzgerald can connect for enough big plays to make the difference. One thing’s for certain: America will consume enough snack foods and legal beverages on Sunday to give the economy a well-needed boost!

Freelance writer Doug Roorbach lives in Houghton, N.Y., with his wife and four children. He intends to spend Super Bowl Sunday at a party with a few dozen friends, watching the game and celebrating his birthday.