Bittersweet ‘Steeler Town’ return for McCarthy

PITTSBURGH native Mike McCarthy will come face-to-face with the city of his birth in the Super Bowl on Sunday week after the showdown so long desired by the purists became a reality on Sunday night.

Two of the NFL’s most storied teams will clash in the billion-dollar Cowboys Stadium after McCarthy’s Green Bay Packers won the NFC Championship game against the Chicago Bears prior to the Pittsburgh Steelers derailing the New York Jets in the AFC equivalent.

Pittsburgh’s 24-19 victory in Heinz Field means the Irish-American Rooney family have now delivered eight AFC titles to Steeler Town and they will be aiming to add to their record haul of six Super Bowls next month.

Standing in their way are the even more iconic Packers whose relatively convincing 21-14 win over arch-rivals Chicago ensured 10 different teams have won the last 10 NFC titles.

Only four of those have gone on to win a Super Bowl but Green Bay have already been installed as slight favourites to close a 14-year gap and seal their fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy which was named after the coach that delivered Super Bowl I and II to the small town in Wisconsin.

An injury-plagued season had forced Green Bay to do it the hard way, their qualification as sixth-seeded Wild Cards meaning they would have away trips in every round of the post-season.

But McCarthy, who is in his fifth season as Packers coach, claimed he never stopped believing even when a Bears rally temporarily made a game of it in Soldier Field.

Defensive Lineman BJ Raji’s right-place-right-time interception ensured the win while also earning him the dubious honour of being the heaviest player in NFL history to score a touchdown in the play-offs.

“We’ve always felt that we are a very good football team,” said McCarthy. “The way our season went, the trials and tribulations that we encountered, to me, that was how we were shaped. It’s challenged our character. Now we have the opportunity to achieve greatness, and that is winning the Super Bowl.”

Also hunting greatness is Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who is eyeing up a third Super Bowl ring at the tender age of 28. His season began in controversy after a Georgia court dropped sexual assault charges made against him last April, an unproven indiscretion that nonetheless earned him a four-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

But now he can join Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw in the exclusive club of quarterbacks with a hat-trick of Super Bowls.

“We’ve been through a lot this team and me personally,” said Roethlisberger on Sunday night. “It just feels good. “Anytime you get to a Super Bowl it feels good. I don’t care what you’re going through or what is going on. We put a lot of stuff behind us early and found a way to get it done.

“Ben has done a great job,” Steelers owner and US ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney said “Ben did his time. He did everything he was asked to do. He conducted himself as a real gentleman. I’m very proud of him. I think he’s going to be (regarded as) a fine person to the world as time goes on.”

Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a medial collateral ligament tear in his knee, forcing him off early in the second half of the defeat to Green Bay.

Cutler had been forced to defend his decision to prematurely leave the biggest game of his career and Bears fans even took to burning replica jerseys bearing his name and his number.

“We gave it a go that first series (after half-time), but I couldn’t really plant and throw, so they kind of pulled me,” Cutler revealed before dismissing a question about criticism of his ‘toughness’ with a terse “no comment”.

Cutler’s withdrawal prompted other players around the league to abuse him via Twitter but Bears team mate Brian Urlacher was quick to defend his quarterback. “Jay was hurt,” Urlacher said. “I don’t question his toughness. He’s tough as hell. He’s one of the toughest guys on our team.”