The match up for Super Bowl XL has been set. The Pittsburgh Steelers of the AFC will take on the Seattle Seahawks of the NFC on February 5 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Both teams reached the big game with convincing playoff wins. The Steelers manhandled the Denver Broncos 34-17 in Denver while the Seahawks crushed the Carolina Panthers 34-14.
It is the first ever Super Bowl appearance for Seattle who entered the league in 1976. The Steelers have played in five Super Bowls and won four of those games. Still, their last appearance was in Super Bowl XXX and their last win was in Super Bowl XIV.
Odds makers have installed the Steelers as the early favorites. The Seahawks were listed as 3 1/2 point underdogs when the line was first released and the spread quickly rose to 4 points shortly after it was announced.
The Seahawks immediately tried to use their status as underdogs as a motivating factor.
'Frankly, we get sick of hearing it,' guard Steve Hutchinson said when told the NFC's top-seeded team is an underdog to the AFC's sixth and final seed. 'You'd think we'd earned respect. All we can do is keep winning.'
Neither team has many players with a lot of Super Bowl experience. The Steelers have only one player who has previously appeared in America's premier sporting event, cornerback Willie Williams. The Seahawks have only five players who have appeared in the Super Bowl, wide receiver Joe Jurevicius; center Robbie Tobeck; defensive end Grant Wistrom; defensive tackle Chuck Darby; and punter Tom Rouen.
Both coaches have been there before. The Steelers Bill Cowher was the coach of the Steelers when the lost to Dallas in 1996. Seattle's Mike Holmgren led the Packers to a title in Super Bowl XXXI and led the team back to the title game the following year only to lose a heartbreaker to the Denver Broncos.
The game is a homecoming for Steelers running back Jerome Bettis. The 13-year veteran grew up in Detroit. He has never played in a Super Bowl before despite being the NFL's fifth all-time leading rusher. Bettis is expected to retire after the game. Still, he is savoring the moment. 'I can't imagine anything better,' Bettis said after the Steelers' win. 'I'm going home.'
This will be the second Super Bowl held in Michigan. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 back in Super Bowl XVI at the Pontiac Silverdome in January 1982.
