Bill Cowher has become a fixture in Pittsburgh, and on Sunday night, he finally became a champion.
By winning Super Bowl XL, 21-10, against the Seattle Seahawks, the Steelers ended Cowher's long journey to a title. Having coached in Pittsburgh for the past 14 seasons, Cowher has the longest current tenure in the NFL. But his impressive resume was incomplete without a Super Bowl ring.
Four times, he had lost in the American Football Conference championship game. Once before, he had lost in the Super Bowl.
The magnitude of the moment Sunday did not appear lost on Cowher, and his team rose to the challenge. The Steelers held the Seahawks, the NFL's highest-scoring team, to 10 points. Pittsburgh's final touchdown came a on a trick play -- a 43-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward.
It was not a textbook performance by the Steelers, but it was resourceful, a trait they had displayed for two months. Pittsburgh capped its championship run by winning eight consecutive games -- four in the regular season and four in the postseason. Not even a shaky performance by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger could deny the Steelers their moment.
When the playoffs began, few people expected the AFC's sixth-seeded team to become a champion. But the Steelers did it the hard way, giving Cowher a chance to win a fifth Super Bowl title for Pittsburgh and to reward owner Dan Rooney for his loyalty.
"It would be very gratifying to hand Mr. Rooney that fifth trophy," Cowher said during the week leading up to the Super Bowl. "We have the four trophies in our building, and I pass them every day. To bring another one there would be very gratifying and very special to the whole team."
Pittsburgh's victory came at the expense of Mike Holmgren, who failed in his bid to become the first coach to win a Super Bowl with two teams.
Holmgren was the winning coach with Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXI in the 1996 season, defeating the New England Patriots, 35-21. But in the next Super Bowl, the Packers lost, 31-24, to Denver, and Holmgren was criticized for a controversial decision.
With the score tied, 24-24, with less than two minutes to play, Denver had second-and-goal at the 1. Holmgren had his defense allow Terrell Davis to score with 1 minute 47 seconds left so that Green Bay would get the ball back with two timeouts.
The strategy failed, because the Packers failed to score on the final drive and lost. Holmgren has consistently defended his decision, but he wanted another crack at the Super Bowl, for what he hoped would be a happier ending.
His team simply did not play well enough.
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