On February 5, 2006, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21–10 in Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit. On paper it had everything a Super Bowl needs.
The storylines
Seattle had the league’s Most Valuable Player in running back Shaun Alexander, who had rushed for 1,880 yards and a then-record 28 touchdowns that season. It was the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl in franchise history.
Pittsburgh had Ben Roethlisberger, who at 23 became the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl. And it had Jerome Bettis, “The Bus,” a Detroit native playing what everyone expected to be the final game of his Hall of Fame career in his hometown. He retired a champion.
The game
The game itself was messier than the build-up. Roethlisberger had a rough day passing. The decisive plays included a 75-yard touchdown run by Willie Parker, the longest run in Super Bowl history at the time, and a trick play in which wide receiver Antwaan Randle El threw a touchdown pass to Hines Ward, who was named the game’s MVP.
The argument
Seattle fans still bring up the officiating. Several calls went against the Seahawks, including a touchdown catch overturned by an offensive pass interference penalty. Referee Bill Leavy said years later that he had made mistakes in the game and that they had stayed with him. Seahawks fans took some comfort in February 2014, when their team won Super Bowl XLVIII by routing the Denver Broncos 43–8.
What lasts
Twenty years on, the game is remembered less for football quality than for its people: Bettis’s goodbye, Roethlisberger’s start to a long career, Alexander’s brilliant season, and a fan base that still argues about the flags.
Sources: Super Bowl XL, Wikipedia; Shaun Alexander, Wikipedia.
