DETROIT — The Pittsburgh Steelers punctuated their improbable late-season run with an inefficient but satisfying 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL last night at Ford Field.
It was the eighth-straight win for the Steelers, who in early December were considered a playoff afterthought. The outcome was sealed with a 43-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward midway through the fourth quarter, a bit of razzle-dazzle typical of the gambling style of coach Bill Cowher.
The victory restored the Steelers and owner Art Rooney to the glory of their Steel Curtain days of the 1970s, when teams led by Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann and Mean Joe Green won four Super Bowls.
The game also marked a fitting send-off for Steelers running back Jerome “the Bus” Bettis, who ended a glorious 13-year career with a championship. Bettis, the fifth-leading rusher in league history, grew up in Detroit.
“The Bus’ last stop was in Detroit,” Bettis said. “I decided to come back to win a championship, and with that accomplished, I have to bid farewell. It has been an incredible ride.”
The ride early on looked like it would be ruined by the Seahawks, who completely outplayed the Steelers for most of the first half. The Steelers couldn’t move the ball. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who posted a miserable 22.6 passer rating for the game, struggled badly. Still, the Seahawks, making their first Super Bowl appearance, couldn’t score and trailed 7-3 at halftime.
In what was a mistake-prone, drab affair, two plays made the difference: a record-setting, 75-yard run by the Steelers’ Willie Parker just after halftime and Randle El’s pass to Ward on a trick play that put the Steelers up by 11 in the fourth quarter.
Parker’s touchdown put the Steelers up 14-3. Seahawks cornerback Kelly Herndon later returned an interception of Roethlisberger a record 76 yards to set up a touchdown that cut the lead to 14-10.
But the touchdown pass to Ward, who was named the game’s most valuable player, all but ended the Seahawks’ hopes.
“They called the right play at the right time,” said Ward, who caught five passes for a game-high 123 yards and ran for 18 more yards.
The Steelers became one of the most improbable of National Football League champions: They were the first No. 6 seed ever to play in the Super Bowl. They were led by Roethlisberger, at age 23 the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. They appeared to be going nowhere late in the season, then won seven straight games — including three in the playoffs against higher seeds — to reach the title game.
The victory was especially sweet for Cowher, a Pittsburgh native who has coached the Steelers for 14 seasons.
“We’re taking this baby back home,” Cowher said, holding the Lombardi Trophy as the crowd roared.
Detroit must have seemed like home for the Steelers last night, so loud and one-sided was the fan support.
The stands were an ocean of black-and-gold clad fans waving “Terrible Towels” — vendors sold them for $10 apiece — and urging on the Steelers. Pittsburgh is just 280 miles from Detroit — a short trip for the Steeler Nation, the club’s intensely devoted fans.
Before the game-turning plays by Parker and Randle El, the best action was confined to the halftime show and a performance by Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.
The halftime show, heavily scrutinized since a too-revealing performance by Janet Jackson two years ago, went off with no problems.
The Rolling Stones played a brief but raucous set. The only controversy was well before the game: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick criticized the NFL for giving the premier halftime spot to a British group instead of honoring his city’s musical heritage.
Detroit native Aretha Franklin was added to the bill to sing the national anthem as a duet with Aaron Neville, and other Motown favorites such as the Four Tops also were added.
“The Super Bowl transcends the host city and even the country,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
As testament to that statement of the obvious, a worldwide audience estimated at more than one billion watched the game. International radio broadcasters sent the game to 234 countries and territories in 32 languages. The game also was cybercast in Danish, English, French, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Spanish on Super Bowl.com.
The fans who were able to see the game in person were subjected to the heightened security typical of the five Super Bowls played since the September 11 attacks.
The FBI and the Detroit police commanded the biggest security operation in Super Bowl history. There were more than 10,000 security personnel on duty, drawn from 54 federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies as well as private security guards.
Detroit police and Michigan State Police had undercover units in and around the stadium. Cameras inside were connected to the law-enforcement network.
Police cordoned off a two-block area around the stadium, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command enforced a no-fly zone within a 30-mile radius of downtown.
Federal, state and local authorities used dogs to sweep the stadium for bombs. The dogs later were stationed at gates to check fans for explosives. Radiation detectors were placed near the stadium. SWAT teams and bomb-removal specialists — they tested their plans during the Detroit Lions-Atlanta Falcons game here on Thanksgiving — also were stationed nearby.
Few problems were reported.
Even the weather cooperated. About 9 inches of snow was predicted for Detroit on Saturday night. Most of it, however, fell well north of the city. Downtown received only 1.5 inches, the National Weather Service said.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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