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Super Bust XL

	AP

Move over Dolphins and Vikings from Super Bowl VIII. Make some room next to your Super Bowl MVP trophy Mark Rypien. Get ready for company Jamal Anderson and the 1998 Falcons. Here comes the Steelers and Seahawks with the latest entry into the pantheon of utterly forgettable Super Bowls.

The only thing that could have matched the pregame drudgery from Detroit was Sunday's slop-fest from Ford Field.

The NFL's next great star, Ben Roethlisberger, came up surprisingly small. Jerome Bettis couldn't get in from the 1-yard line. The officials capped a miserable postseason with another disaster. Mike Holmgren made Herman Edwards look like the Albert Einstein of clock management. And as much as I live for the Stones, Keith Richards clearly didn't know where he was at halftime.

There were a couple of plays that will turn into enduring highlights. Antwaan Randle El's touchdown pass was so impressive, a dozen teams have to be wondering if they should woo the free agent to play quarterback instead of receiver. Willie Parker managed not to trip on his 75-yard run. And I thought Matt Hasselbeck made a great tackle on Ike Taylor, although the officials disagreed and flagged him for a personal foul.

In the long run, there will be little to remember from Super Bowl XL. I don't think we're going to see the Seahawks back on the national stage again. And the Steelers will still be an elite team, but it's hard to imagine we're seeing the beginning a new dynasty because the AFC is so competitive right now.

Maybe my expectations are too high, but I was already thinking about April's Draft by the third quarter. Good-bye Super Bowl boredom. Hello D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Vince Young and three months of draft fun.

Let me know what you thought of last night's game.

-- Andrew Perloff

Steelers 21, Seahawks 10 High on Hines By Peter King It wasn't one of the best Super Bowls in history, but MVP Hines Ward made his mark despite nerves and injury. Super Bowl blues By Dr. Z After covering 39 of 40 Super Bowls, Steelers-Seahawks may rank among the five worst big games. Long road to redemption By Don Banks Jerome Bettis goes out in style, and a new era of Steelers football is born. • Snap Judgments: Porter quieted Words get in the way By John Donovan Jerramy Stevens talked up a big game during Super Bowl week, but his big drops in key spots doomed Seattle. Super Bowl Blog By Pete McEntegart You are looking live at the press box in Ford Field for running commentary of all the Super Bowl XL festivities. Other stories Steelers win one for the thumb -- and the jaw Big Ben's off day enough for a Super victory Two big plays propel Ward to MVP honors Alexander kept in check in possible farewell Seahawks struggle with 'uncharacteristic' errors ABC edits Rolling Stones' 'lyric malfunction' Downtown Pittsburgh flooded with Steelers fans More from SI.com Drive Analysis | Report Cards | Box Score Photo Gallery: SI's best Super Bowl XL shots SI's STEELERS Championship Package FREE! Complete SI.com Super Bowl Coverage POLL What was the worst call of Super Bowl XL? Pass interference on Jackson Big Ben's TD non-reversal Holding on Locklear Clipping on Hasselbeck Having the Stones perform  View Results

Agreed completely. The salary cap was the death blow of great football teams squaring up.
-- Zane , Cincinnati

That's the worst I've ever seen a winning Super Bowl team play ... yuck.
-- John , Boston

I'm a big fan of defense and watching the coaches adjust and change the game through strategy. I think Perloff wants the Super Bowl to be a game of Super Tecmo bowl and has little appreciation for what truly makes football interesting.
-- Jordy , New York

Poorly played (by both teams), poorly officiated (again), poorly coached (Holmgren)...Do you see a theme here? Just POOR! Oh and that Rolling Stones halftime show...Yuck!
-- Fred Hughes , New York

Terrible all around. And the refs simply but the finishing touch on what has to be the most atrocious officiating in the playoffs -- EVER. I mean why didn't they just hand Bettis the trophy when he ran out of the tunnel and dispensed with the so-called suspense. I am not even a Seahawks fan and I wanted to vomit. AWFUL. And the play and coaching was just as bad -- on both sides.
-- Rick , Chesepeake, Va.

I was also overly bored. I thought the Seahawks had gotten over their "dropping passes problem." I also thought they would have put it into their gameplan to stop the inevitable gadget play. I hope that Cower's score early and bore the other team to sleep gameplan doesn't spread to other teams. This was far from a Super bowl, it was more of a sleeper bowl.
-- Dan Pizzo , Glenside, Pa.

They should have just given the Steelers the trophy before the game. From the ticky-tacky call on Darrell Jackson for offensive pass interference, to Hasselbeck's tackle on Taylor, it was apparent that it was decided before the game was played that the Steelers would win. I thought that kind of crap only happened in Pro Wrestling.
-- R. Bland , Brevard, N.C.

Why is it that whenever Big Ben has a good game we never hear about the thumb? He was terrible yesterday and the old thumb excuse came up. ABC even showed him on the sideline grabbing his hand. I don't recall him having those problems in the Denver or Indy game when he had good games!
-- John , Boston

I don't know if the game was a bust, but it sure was hard to get into it. I mean, Seattle couldn't finish drives regardless of the officials and Pittsburgh had three good plays the whole game. And Mick Jagger on stage dancing like Britney Spears nearly made me sick.
-- Kirk , Fayetteville, Ga.

Though I'm a total Steelers fan, I would have to agree that last night's game was disappointing. It took both teams so long to warm up to their surroundings and really try to relax. Too many mistakes at the wrong moments. Honestly, aside from Randle El's pass, the commercials were the best part.
-- Heather , McConnellsburg Pa.

It was evident that the two best teams in the NFL weren't on the field last night. The game was far from entertaining, and the half-time show was even wrose. This is what happens when you have too many playoff teams and a salary cap watering down the league.
-- DJ , Austin, Texas

That game stunk. Usually you can pick out an MVP by the end of the third quarter but neither offense did much and the defensive stars (Tatup-who? Was Joey Porter invisible?) were not the reason scoring was low. Even the refs had a lousy game. Bleah.
-- Greg O'Brien , Hamilton, Ontario

How horrible was that game? The officials? A personal foul on a clean tackle? It was by far one of the worst games I've really ever seen in my short 20 years of life. And on top of that it was the Super Bowl. Gosh, ya think there was a little too much hype?
-- Brandon , Stanley, Wisc.

First the MVP should have been the officials. They handed the Steelers victory. Second the Bus would of had a flat if he had drove through Foxboro.
-- Jim , Boston

I think momentum makes for better games, regular and postseason. I would really love the NFL to ditch the extra week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. Would we have had a different outcome? Perhaps, but the teams I watched look rusty and out of sync. Too many interviews, too much rich food and too much time to think about the game.
-- Roger , Lewis Center, Ohio

I agree, this was a lousy Super Bowl for all of the reasons that you listed. In addition, because of the crowd noise inside a dome stadium, dome stadiums are not neutral sites. In last night's case, the majority of the crowd supported the Steelers. And that had an affect on the officiating. Therefore, we should forget holding Super Bowls in dome stadiums and, instead, get back to holding them in warm temperate climates where crowd noise will be less of a factor, especially on the officiating.
-- Sam Cerritos , Napa, Calif.

I felt like I was watching a bad movie. I had a sick feeling in the second quarter that no matter what Seattle did, Pittsburgh was going to win. I truly think that if you looked closely at the officials flags they were really crumpled and weighted "Terrible Towels."
-- Tim Keough , Jameville, N.Y.

Well, XL wasn't a classic, I agree. But it sure beat those horrible blowouts by the Niners and Cowboys back when the NFC teams used to knock the snot out of whatever hapless "team" the AFC sent to the game as cannon fodder. This game was competitive for three quarters, at least, had some entertaining plays, a bit of controversy and a compelling "Cowher overcomes his own futility" storyline at the end. I mean, wasn't the quivering Jaw enough to make the relative ugliness of the whole game worthwile?
-- Kurt , Grand Junction, Colo.

Neither team was super by any stretch. It was the worst Super Bowl since Ravens-Giants. After the third quarter it could have been a classic but foolish refs and clueless clockwork stymied the drama. Good for the Rooneys, Cowher, Ward and Co., but bad, bad, bad for NFL fans, Paul Tagliasmug and poor Seattlites starving for a title. The absolute nauseating lowpoint of the 2005 season is this: Joey "Idiot" Porter gets a ring. Nice two tackles he got. He's the new Sapp -- more popular with media scribes than with his own teammates and he somehow wins a Bowl. So disgusting it cancels out the good ending for Bettis.
-- Lex , Bay Area, Calif.

Neither team was super by any stretch. It was the worst Super Bowl since Ravens-Giants. After the third quarter it could have been a classic but foolish refs and clueless clockwork stymied the drama. Good for the Rooneys, Cowher, Ward and Co., but bad, bad, bad for NFL fans, Paul Tagliasmug and poor Seattlites starving for a title. The absolute nauseating lowpoint of the 2005 season is this: Joey "Idiot" Porter gets a ring. Nice two tackles he got. He's the new Sapp -- more popular with media scribes than with his own teammates and he somehow wins a Bowl. So disgusting it cancels out the good ending for Bettis.
-- Lex , Bay Area, Calif.

The Super Bowl was on television last night?
-- Rob , Muskogee, Okla.

I think only the infamous 'Blooper Bowl' (Super Bowl V) measured down to this game. It was actually the first Super Bowl I have watched where I dozed off during the second quarter.
-- J.B., San Ramon, Calif.

While I did find myself dozing during last night's game, there is no way that you can call it the worst Super Bowl ever. In my opinion, one of the many blowouts that we've sat through over the years is much worse. Super Bowl XXIV comes to mind where we got to watch a team that we were bored of winning (the 49ers) kick the snot out of a team that we were bored of losing (the Broncos). At least we got to see a somewhat compelling story this year with the return of an all-time great franchise coming from the No. 6 seed to win the whole thing.
-- Bryan Lorello, Dallas

A big BOOOOOOO to the NFL. Not the worst Super Bowl, though, not even close. The game was compelling into the fourth. Baltimore-N.Y. Giants, Dallas-Buffalo and San Francisco-Denver -- all much worse.
-- J.D., Denver

Worst. Ever. Period.
-- Al, Charlotte, N.C.

While this wasn't a pretty game there were quite a few worse. Tampa Bay-Oakland, Baltimore-Giants, 49ers-Chargers, both Cowboys-Bills games, 49ers-Broncos, Raiders-Redskins, Raiders-Eagles all were games I saw that were worse than this one. Totally uncompetitive games. I won't talk of earlier games I didn't see. Also, Bears-Patriots and Redskins-Broncos were only interesting because of the Bears dominance and the Redskins' amazing second quarter. To me the worst two were Bucs-Raiders, nice for the Raiders to show up, and 49ers-Chargers, never has a worse team made the Super Bowl.
-- Tom , New York City

Worse Super Bowls? The three blowout Bills games.
-- Cecil Bozard, Sullivans Island, S.C.

I am not a fan of Desperate Housewives but that show would have been more entertaining than last night's Super Bowl!
-- Greg, Westerville, Ohio

It may not have been a classic, but I'll take a game that is decided in the last five minutes over the blowouts that permeated the game from the early '80s to the mid-'90s. Maybe you would prefer the 49ers vs Denver or Chicago vs New England. Now those were true classics!
-- Neil, Toronto

It's pretty sad when the winning quaterback's passer rating is only slightly higher than the winning team's point total.
-- Joe, Miami

We now know the "XL" really stood for "extra lousy."
-- Rob , Boston

I kept looking for Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, and Rick Flair to show up at midfield. Whatever happened to fair play?
-- K.K., Dallas