Super Bowl Action

Ben Roethlisberger was in tears when he made the promise to Jerome Bettis. It happened one year ago, in the final moments of the Steelers' devastating home loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

The young quarterback, his lip quivering, implored the Steelers' beloved old fogey to postpone retirement for another year. It might be the franchise's most famous young-old conversation since Mean Joe Greene tossed his jersey to that kid in the Coke commercial.

"He was boo-hoo-ing, and I was boo-hoo-ing," Bettis recalled Sunday at Invesco Field. "He turned to me and said, `Come back. I'll get you to a Super Bowl . . . Just give me one more chance.' "

Done.

Inspired by Bettis but galvanized by Roethlisberger, the Steelers completed an unprecedented journey to the Super Bowl, upsetting the Broncos, 34-17, for their third straight postseason win on the road. The Steelers became the first sixth seed in history to reach the Super Bowl, and they did it by knocking off the first, second and third seeds in the AFC.

The doubters have been silenced. "Everyone said we couldn't do it, being the sixth seed," linebacker Joey Porter said. "We just took the scenic route."

In a span of 14 days, the Steelers went from Cincinnati to Indianapolis to Denver. The Black-and-Gold Across America Tour concludes Feb. 5 in Detroit, home of Super Bowl XL. The four-time Super Bowl champions face the Seattle Seahawks with a chance to finally win one for the thumb, 25 years after capturing their last ring.

"We shocked the world," said wide receiver Hines Ward, sounding the underdog's battle cry.

Playing with no margin for error for nearly two months, the Steelers have won seven straight, including five on the road. At one point, they were 7-5, having started a different quarterback in three straight games.

"What they've done . . . is amazing," Broncos tight end Jeb Putzier said.

The most amazing player on the field was Roethlisberger. Only 23, he was nearly flawless, completing 21 of 29 passes for 275 yards, including two touchdown passes and one scoring run.

Big Ben showed savvy, fooling star cornerback Champ Bailey with a pump fake on a 12-yard touchdown throw to Cedric Wilson. He also fired a 17-yard, seeing-eye scoring pass to Hines Ward as he rolled to his left. The ball went through the hands of safety Nick Ferguson, who couldn't explain how he missed it.

Roethlisberger gave a terrific impersonation of his boyhood idol, Denver icon John Elway, who watched from a luxury suite as his old team was outcoached, out-blitzed and outperformed.

"We've got a young quarterback who didn't play young today," said coach Bill Cowher, who lifted a huge weight by snapping a three-game losing streak in conference championship games.

Roethlisberger, who wears No. 7 because of Elway, was deadly on third down, hitting 10 of 13 passes for 108 yards. On three straight third-down plays in the second quarter, he converted from 10, 10 and eight yards. That was the turning point as the Steelers scored twice in 1:48 to take a 24-3 halftime lead.

"Pittsburgh came in here and played the perfect game," Broncos linebacker Keith Burns said.

The Broncos, who took an undefeated home record into the game, committed four turnovers (two interceptions and two fumbles by Jake Plummer).

Conversely, the blitzing Steelers made Plummer (18-for-30, 223 yards) suffer the long-awaited implosion, which many locals had feared. Basically, the Snake ssssstunk.

Meanwhile, Roethlisberger is 26-4 as a starter, 1-0 in promises delivered. The Bus is heading home to Detroit for the final game of his career, and the kid QB couldn't be happier.

"It's been my driving force all year," Big Ben said. "I'm just glad I didn't have to cry and apologize to him that I couldn't get him there. I feel a lot better that I could keep my promise."

The Seahawks couldn't help but notice that they were calling this the "City of Self-Doubt" on the front page of one of the local newspapers yesterday, evoking a not-so-storied sporting history.

 

In a town that hasn't cheered a top-tier championship since the Sonics won the 1979 NBA title; in a place where baseball's Mariners once won 116 games and missed the World Series, and where the local NFL team had built a decades-old reputation for big-moment wretchedness, it was as though no one could visualize victory in last night's NFC championship game against the Carolina Panthers.

 

But the 67,837 assembled at notoriously noisy Qwest Field let out a cathartic roar that never seemed to abate. And the Seahawks delivered a civic confidence boost by dominating the Panthers in a 34-14 win that set up one of the unlikeliest Super Bowl matchups in recent memory. The NFC champions will play the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34-17 winners over the Broncos in yesterday afternoon's AFC decider, at Detroit's Ford Field on Feb. 5.

 

Pittsburgh, though it has a gridiron legacy that Seattle can't claim, has developed its own inferiority complex of late. The Steelers haven't been involved in the sporting world's biggest spectacle since losing to the Dallas Cowboys a decade ago. And though Bill Cowher, the Steelers' 14-year coach, had taken them to five AFC championship games before yesterday's, they'd lost a record four times on their home turf.

 

The Steelers haven't won the Super Bowl since they were fitted for four rings in six fabled seasons between 1975 and 1980. And this edition of the club certainly wasn't expected to get to Detroit, the hometown of its bent-on-retirement running back, Jerome Bettis.

 

The showdown will be intriguing, pitting the cartoon-jawed Cowher against the prodigiously jowled Mike Holmgren, the Seahawks coach who won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers.

 

It'll stack Seattle's long-underrated defence — which had voiced its displeasure with being shut out of the Pro Bowl selections despite anchoring a 13-3 win-loss record in the regular season — against an offence led by the youngest quarterback in Super Bowl history, Ben Roethlisberger, who threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another TD yesterday.

 

While Roethlisberger is as rare a prodigy, Seattle's 30-year-old Matt Hasselbeck has matured slowly, famously clashing with Holmgren in the quarterback's hard-knock formative years.

 

And while Hasselbeck was nearly flawless last night, throwing for 219 yards and two touchdowns, he'll be challenged by the Steelers' vaunted blitz, which pressured Denver's Jake Plummer into two fumbles and two interceptions.

 

The Seahawks' defence was just as formidable yesterday, intercepting Jake Delhomme three times and stifling Carolina's star receiver Steve Smith. On a telling first-quarter play, Smith, who'd established himself as the most dangerous offensive player of the post-season, was quadruple-covered. Lofa Tatupu, the Seahawks' rookie linebacker, intercepted to set up a touchdown.

 

Victory was, indeed, reputation-shaping. Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks running back and league MVP, had his toughness questioned after he was knocked out of the victory over Washington with a first-quarter concussion. But Alexander rushed for 132 yards on 34 carries and his excellence helped cue a raucous celebration.

 

There was ticker tape and a grunge rock-worthy racket. And there was a sign hanging in the end zone — "Detroit Hawk City" — that spoke of uneasy pre-game optimism suddenly transformed into rare, welcome truth. Perhaps to no one's surprise in this self-deprecating port, the Seahawks were promptly installed as 3 1/2-point underdogs in the big game.

 

"I hope people are taking a lot of pictures so I can look back at this," Hasselbeck said, speaking for a city, "because I'm kind of a little bit in shock right now."