Winners and Losers: Super Bowl XLV

What a game last night.  The Green Bay Packers won their fourth Lombardi Trophy, meaning there are only three teams with more Super Bowl championships (Dallas and San Francisco at 5 each, Pittsburgh at 6) than the Pack.  I'll go through the winners and losers of the big game, in several different categories.

THE GAME  (I totally just lost the game, btdubs.)


Winners:

• The Packers.  Well, this is a no question, when you win the Super Bowl, you're a winner.  After jumping out to a 21-3 lead in the second quarter, the Pack let the Steelers make the game interesting in the second half.  Great efforts on defense, special teams, and by Aaron Rodgers overcoming some egregious receiver mistakes, allowed Green Bay to hold on for the 31-25 victory.
• The Pittsburgh Steelers.  In Super Bowl history, no team has ever come back from more than ten points behind to win the game.  The Steelers were a bad Packers play away from winning the game after at one point trailing by 18.  That shows a lot about the aptitude and resolve of the Steelers, and their head coach Mike Tomlin.
• Aaron Rodgers.  In terms of the NFL's biggest stage, A-Rod is only one win and 200-some yards away from besting Brett Favre.  In one Super Bowl appearance, Rodgers has met or surpassed Favre's marks in wins (1 each), passing touchdowns (3 each), and MVP awards (1 for Rodgers, 0 for Favre).  For the record, it took Brett two Super Bowls to post those stats. Rodgers is far from breaking Favre's marks in career yardage and touchdowns, and never will beat the consecutive games played of number four, but at least he can already say he's bested his predecessor and mentor in one category.  Plus, it's gotta be cool to be one of three guys in a group (Packers Super Bowl winning QBs), particularly when the other two are named Starr and Favre.
• Nick Collins.  What a beautiful first-quarter pick-six.  That swung the momentum towards the Packers in a big way to begin the game with a 14-0 lead.  He contributed all night for Green Bay, but his first big play was perhaps the biggest in the entire game.
• Mike Wallace.  Had the Steelers somehow pulled off the win, Wallace would've been the hands-down game MVP.  In his first Super Bowl appearance, the second-year wideout led all Pittsburgh receivers with 9 catches for 89 yards and a touchdown.  If the Steelers' final drive had resulted in the game-winning touchdown, I have no doubt those totals would be somewhere around 11 or 12 catches, 120-140 yards, and two scores.  As Roethlisberger had a ho-hum day, Rashard Mendenhall only gained 63 yards while fumbling the ball in a critical situation, and there were no huge defensive stars, Wallace was clearly the top contributor for Pittsburgh in last night's game.
• Tim Masthay.  The Packers' punter, coming to the field six times throughout the night, played an incredibly solid game, averaging more than 40 yards a punt, and pinning the Steelers inside their own 30 yard line multiple times, despite often being deep in his own territory himself.  In fact, the only thing Masthay didn't do right was hit the Jerry-tron with a punt.  In a game that came down to field position and special teams, the 23-year-old Masthay was the unsung hero for the Packers.
• Steelers O-Line.  With all the talk about Maurkice Pouncey for the past two weeks, the Steelers' line did a phenomenal job, only allowing one sack of Ben Roethlisberger for the entire game.  Doug Legursky may have had one halfway-bad snap in his first NFL start at center, but it didn't affect the outcome of whatever play it was.

Losers:

• Ben Roethlisberger.  This game was supposed to be Big Ben's redemption.  Instead he finished with a so-so passer rating of 77, threw two interceptions--including one returned 37 yards for a touchdown, and was sacked on a critical third-down play in the second half.  Not a championship performance for a two-time championship-winning quarterback.  But, hey, it was better than his Super Bowl XL showing.
• Packers receivers.  There were three crucial dropped passes for the Pack in last night's game.  The first would've resulted in a long touchdown, but was dropped by James Jones.  Jordy Nelson, while catching nine passes for 140 yards and a score, had two big drops in the second half.  Meanwhile, twelve-year veteran Donald Driver, drafted by the Packers two years after their Super Bowl XXXII loss, spent the majority of the second half on the sideline with an ankle injury.  After waiting such a long time to be in the big game, it had to be bittersweet for Driver to finish the game on the bench, even though his team won.
• Packers secondary.  Yes, I know I'm coming down hard on the winning team right now, but the coverages the Green Bay secondary threw out after being banged up a bit physically in the first quarter and a half were pitiful.  There were several open looks, including a wide-open Hines Ward when the Steelers scored a touchdown to close out the first half.  Charles Woodson was the only member of the unit not to return for second-half action, but it seemed like the entire secondary was replaced.  If any one thing is to blame for the Steelers getting back in the game, it's the cornerbacks and safeties of the Green Bay Packers.
• That poor camera-man.  During one of his fourteen rushes, Rashard Mendenhall was forced to run out-of-bounds...and right into a camera-man.  Both Mendenhall and the camera-man had some difficulty recovering from the collision, but it wasn't a problem as Isaac Redman immediately succeeded that play with a 16-yard burst to get Pittsburgh in scoring position.  Mendenhall was back in enough time to end that drive with a touchdown run, putting the Steelers behind by only 4, 21-17.  The least the guy could've done was take Rashard out for the rest of the game....
• Injuries.  As I've already hinted on, there were at least a dozen players that had to miss at least one play due to injury.  The Packers were hit especially hard; both Donald Driver and Charles Woodson, seasoned veterans, had to finish the game on the bench.  Fortunately, although he took a few vicious hits, Aaron Rodgers did not suffer another concussion and didn't have to sit out at all.

THE COMMERCIALS

Winners:

• Budweiser.  Once again, Anheuser-Busch came away with the best set of Super Bowl Commercials.  Among my favorites this year were the Bud Light home makeover, and the Bud western spot.  I also enjoyed the dog-organized party.
• The Automobile Industry.  There wasn't a truly disappointing car commercial in the entire batch released by the various companies, and there were certainly a lot.  From Audi's spot with Kenny G, to the Chevy Camaro's "what would make a good commercial?" ad, to Darth Vader kid using the force on a Volkswagen, to Eminem's "Lose Yourself" playing background in a Chrysler commercial, the auto industry used its bailout money to maximum effect in this year's Super Bowl.  My favorite car ad of the year, though, goes to the Kia Optima's "Epic" commercial.
• Pepsi Max.  Great commercials featuring Pepsi Max cans flying and hitting just about anyone in just about any way are a classic way to successfully sell a product.
• Eminem.  While his first commercial, for Lipton Brisk, made me say, "What. Just. Happened.", the rapper capped off his "Recovery" album, tour, etc, with being featured two commercials, including a two-minute spot for Chrysler which captured the essence of the recovery of the auto industry.

Losers:

• Coca-Cola.  I was not impressed by the effort Coke put into its ads this year.  The two that I can remember were incredibly slow to develop, and you knew what was going to happen.
• E-Trade.  The E-Trade baby is getting old.  It probably should think about retiring to Tuscany.
• GoDaddy.com.  Sex sells, yes, but when it's the only thing you're using, it stops selling pretty quickly.  Any more incredibly suggestive ads, and people are really going to stop visiting the website.
• Teleflora.  "I like your rack."  Really?  Kids watch the Super Bowl.  That was inappropriate and completely distasteful.
• Groupon.  Also very distasteful and inappropriate.  If you're talking about enslaved Tibetans, or wherever the heck they are, and the things they are forced to make in poor conditions (in other words, going for a human interest, public service announcement sort of thing), don't EVER twist off and say "But hey, screw the people who made this stuff, we've got a ridiculous deal on it."  It's not funny, and you should have some more sensitivity about the subject.  I'm ashamed.

THE MUSIC

Winners:

Well, there wasn't much winning going on in the music front Sunday night.  I was able to pick out a couple of good things, though.

• Lea Michele.  Although she is one of my least favorite singers, and characters, in Glee, she absolutely rocked "America the Beautiful".  I very much enjoyed her rendition of the song.
• Slash.  The ONLY good part of the halftime show (Usher was lip-syncing, it doesn't count.) was the riff from "Sweet Child of Mine" which Fergie promptly chose to ruin with her horrendous vocals.
• Christina Aguilera staying in tune.  Yeah, she flubbed up the lyrics.  I'll get on to her later about that.  But, in retrospect, I'd rather have Aguilera messing up the words, but keeping in tune with an incredible voice, than Fergie getting all the words right, but being off key.  She gets kudos for me for her ability to sing the second half of the Anthem absolutely phenomenally.

That is literally it.  The only winners, musically, in the spectacle that is the Super Bowl.  Now, here comes the fun part.

Losers:

• Aguilera's Anthem.  No.  You can not mess up the lyrics.  Especially on the country's biggest stage.  There is no excuse.  No one should or will ever ask Christina Aguilera to perform the Star-Spangled Banner at another sporting event.
• Fergie.  No.  Just no.  She single-handedly destroyed any entertainment value in the halftime show.  It was HORRENDOUS.  With a capital HORRENDOUS.  If I wanted to hear someone singing so horribly off-key, I'd go to a elementary school talent show.  It's kind of precious when kids that can't sing try to sing.  A full-grown woman, not so much.  Especially when said full-grown woman is a professional musician.
• The Black-Eyed Peas in general.  I didn't have much expectations for them anyway, so I wasn't disappointed having to put them in the "Losers" column.  In addition to Fergie being so terrible, you can't sound good by just yelling into an auto-tune mic.  You have to at least get somewhere close to the desired note.   I didn't like how it seemed that Tron sponsored the show instead of Bridgestone, either.

THE EXPERIENCE

This will cover anything from the site of the game, to the TV coverage, to the Internet.

Winners:

• Jerry Jones.  J-squared got to show off his pride and joy to the world, and boy was it worth the 1.2 billion he spent on it.  There were a couple of glitches, that I'll get to in a bit, but Dallas should have no trouble landing more Super Bowls while the Jones Mahal is standing.
• A-Rods.  I've already discussed at length on A-Rod's on-field accomplishment.  Alex Rodriguez, however, got the best off-the-field treat ever:  his woman feeding him food, on television, in front of millions.  Doesn't get much better than that, being in a luxury suite in the best stadium in sports, while your girlfriend does all the work and puts the popcorn in your mouth for you.
• @Fake_BigBen.  During my epic 100-plus-tweet Super Bowl coverage, I also got to follow Ben Roethlisberger's inner thoughts and desires as the game unfolded.  And the joke account for Big Ben was absolutely entertaining in every aspect.  In fact, many of the folks I follow on Twitter were fun to read as the game went on.  Some other notables were @PeytonsHead, @wingoz, @BIGJOEONTHEGO, and @ComradeJoey.  You can find all of my Super Bowl tweets @churdle76, if you so choose.
• The Pizza Places.  I spent over $50 for Pizza Hut to bring me three large pizzas and two two-liters for my party.  It was completely worth it, and knowing how many others got pizzas for the big game, it had to be a HUGE money-making day for the Hut, PJ's, Domino's, and so forth.  

Losers:

• 400-some people that weren't able to watch the game at Cowboys' stadium, because some 1200 temporary seats were declared a fire hazard.  About 800 were able to be re-located, but 400, some die-hard Packers and Steelers fans that traveled long distances to come to the game, were sent away.  The triple-face-value reimbursement (some tickets netting upwards of $2K) was hardly compensation for these folks.  
• The sound system.  Of course, they couldn't do the courtesy of keeping Fergie's mic off.  There were a few technical/sound glitches at the halftime show, they were fixed, but kept recurring.  On the biggest stage in American sports, that's something that shouldn't happen.  Still, despite this and the seats issue, there is still great praise for Dallas's first Super Bowl.
• The National Media.  Those guys really have a way for blowing things out of proportion.  If the Steelers had won, Ben Roethlisberger would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame the very next day.  Super Bowl XLV would be the last ever NFL game.  That's just a couple of things I heard that were very hyperbolic and untrue.  But, that's just something we'll have to live with.
• A trillion hours of pregame.  How much can you talk about two football teams without beginning to sound like a broken record?
• John Madden and George W. Bush.  The two were sitting right next to each other, and when they were shown on national TV, the former was checking his email or tweeting on his cell phone, and Bush 2 was looking down for an extended length of time.  Neither was paying any attention to each other, the camera pointed right at them, or the game.  Not good spectator-ship from either.

Well, there are a few winners and losers from Super Bowl XLV.  I could probably go on forever, but I don't need to bore you any further.

-Clayton