Origins of a Steelers Fan: The Heartbreak of Super Bowl XLV
Jumping back into the Origins of a Steelers fan series, I would be missing a huge chapter if I didn’t take time to talk about the 2010 season and Super Bowl XLV. 13-year-old me had only ever watched the Steelers win Super Bowls up to that point. What can I say? I was born at the right time, and I happened to fall in love with my hometown team that just so happened to have bred a culture of success lasting decades. I, like all other Steelers fans over the past 60 years now, was spoiled. I just didn’t know it then.
The 2010 Steelers were so much fun to watch. There are some memorable moments I can remember throughout the regular season and through their playoff run. People can say what they want to about Ben Roethlisberger, but love him or hate him, that dude is tough as nails. I will never forget the image of his nose swollen and literally sideways after Haloti Ngata broke it in primetime. How is the Steelers/Ravens rivalry of the 2000s and 2010s not the greatest rivalry of all time? I’m sure some other fan bases might argue otherwise, but there is certainly a case to be made for it being #1. The physicality and energy of those games are unparalleled in my opinion. Troy Polamalu made special plays throughout his entire career, but he put together a season that earned him NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010.
In the playoffs, how could anyone forget Antonio Brown’s helmet catch in the divisional round against the Ravens? This was just the beginning of the truly spectacular plays we would learn to expect from him for years to come.
Then came Super Bowl XLV. I used some Christmas money that I had saved to buy myself a Super Bowl XLV edition Heath Miller jersey for the game. I was always a huge Heeeaaaath fan, and I thought it would be special to have and to keep as memento. My family and I watched that game in our basement on our big flat screen TV. I remember being so excited to watch the Steelers in the Super Bowl again, and I was so confident they were climbing the stairway to seven and bringing home another Lombardi trophy. Unfortunately, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers had other plans. The Mendenhall fumble was a gut punch, but the Steelers’ last drive is the one that broke my heart. Rewatching it as an adult, I feel like I don’t place so much of the blame on his shoulders, but I remember being extremely disappointed in Mike Wallace’s effort and failure to make a play in such a big moment. The end of that game left me feeling so many things. Feeling angry. Disappointed. But most of all, my little black and gold heart experienced heartbreak as a fan for perhaps the first time. The Super Bowl is magic when your team wins it. But when they lose? That’s hard. Really hard. Honestly, it can make someone wish their team hadn’t made it that far so that the loss wouldn’t hurt so much.
Adding in a personal family memory as a little side note here, my dad is a Dallas Cowboys fan. Gross, I know. Everyone has a fault. When the Steelers lost, he immediately started to talk some trash to me and my mom. My mom may or may not have thrown a remote in his direction after that game. He laughed, and my mom, being super competitive, promptly put herself to bed.
Ironically, watching the NFC playoffs, I was pulling for the Packers that year. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t done that. I also will say that I did not cheer on Rodgers and the Packers again. The more his career continued, the less I liked Aaron Rodgers. While there is no denying his talent, he comes off to me as being very cocky. I don’t love the way he talks to his teammates when he is frustrated, at least not in the small sample size of it that has been televised. I think there’s also a small part of me that never got over his victory against the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
In that moment, I remember thinking that as rough as it was to watch them lose the Super Bowl, it was okay. The Steelers were a great team, and they would be back for their seventh Lombardi very soon. I never thought that game would be the last time we would see Ben Roethlisberger suit up and compete for a championship. A little part of me wishes I had known; maybe I would have cherished watching that game more as it was happening. Maybe I could have somehow filled my heart even more with the magic that those championship teams had. It marked the end of an era that was infinitely meaningful to me personally as a Steelers fan. While the Steelers continued to have success in the years to come, their championship runs were done. Looking back on it now, it still breaks my heart.
What are your favorite memories from this season? Do you have any that stand out in your mind? Make sure you share them below!
The XLV run was magical. My friend managed to score 45 yard-line seats (upper deck) to both the playoff games at Heinz Field, and I made the trek from where I was living near D.C. for both of those games. I was there for the comeback against Baltimore. I was there for the almost-blew-it versus the Jets. But the way they won those games, it felt like destiny that they would win the Super Bowl.
Because we had watched the other playoff games together and it brought the team luck, we decided we needed to watch the Super Bowl together. So I came up to watch with him at a place called Foli’s in Swissvale, which is no longer in existence. The late Dick Groat was there, so I can say I watched a Super Bowl with Dick Groat, which is kinda cool. Not sure if that was a byproduct of overconfidence, the freely flowing alcohol, the abomination of a halftime show with the Black-Eyed Peas, or some kind of underlying intuition that that was the last ride for an aging Super Bowl team — maybe a combination of all of the above — but I can honestly say it’s the only football game in my adult life that has made me cry.
For many fans older than myself, born in ‘86, Super Bowl XXX is at the top of their “most painful loss” list. For me, it’s XLV.
I have never been able to watch this game back.
I probably should, there are elements of the game I’ve forgotten. Just can’t stomach the finish…
To me the reason that fumble happened was the OL did not keep Matthews out of the freaking hole. Had the OL sealed off Matthews Mendenhall has daylight to run to and the way the Steelers were shoving the ball down the Packers throat at that point showed they were going to punch GB right in the mouth. I’ve always said to myself that neither team has been the same since that game and it’s true.
Doug Legursky is an all-time football name
This is a great piece Sadie! I’m a bit older (okay, fine, a lot older) and for me, it had to be Super Bowl XXX. The game was ours. At least it felt that way. It was also the first time I realized that the Steelers were able to LOSE a Super Bowl! Not really, but it felt that way…
I hated how this went down ,but with that being said the Steelers organization should make all new Steelers watch the 2095-06 Steelers season dvd in their orientation. Get them fired up and ready to get it done .