Several of my students have tried to give me a hard time about the Super Bowl, but I’m really okay with the outcome.  After the loss in 96 to the Cowboys, I was upset for weeks, and even today, whenever I see clips of that game, I still get angry about the squandered opportunity to shut up those loud-mouthed braggarts.  This time, however, either because of maturity on my part or an absence of utter hatred for the Packers, I feel pretty good about the season Pittsburgh had.

Last spring, when Big Ben’s suspension was announced, all of my friends were ready to throw in the towel.  “The season’s over!” they wailed.  But I had faith in the defense and in Tomlin to see us through those games.  Even with Big Ben, I doubt we could’ve gotten off to much better of a start.  Other than the Patriots game, the team played hard every week and overcame a lot of obstacles along the way.  The injury to Aaron Smith was huge, but at least Ziggy Hood got some experience.  That will pay big dividends in the future.  Our offense found a real groove, and while Ben had a terrible Super Bowl game, overall, he won us many more games than he lost.

Losing the Super Bowl is huge letdown.  But there’s always next year.  I’ll take a 6-2 Super record, and so would fans of 30 other teams.  Hopefully, we’ll get a couple of defensive backs in the draft to fill our biggest need, and then we also need depth on the O-line.  Speaking of which, I’d like to take a moment to thank Flozell Adams for the season he had.  A lot of people, myself included, had written him off, but all in all, he had a good year and was a great addition to the team.  He played through a lot of pain and performed at a high level, so thank you, Flozell.

And to all the haters and doubters and wannabes out there, “Here we go, Steelers!  Here we go!”