Super Sunday is finally upon us. The day for the best commercials on TV and the most highly anticipated football game has arrived. And what two teams could be better to showcase in the Super Bowl before the lockout than the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, two of the most storied franchises in the NFL. Viewers at home will see an audience of Steeler fans waving their Terrible Towels and Packer fans wearing their Cheese Heads. The atmosphere will be electric as every Super Bowl is, but the fans watch the game for the atmosphere. They watch to witness a championship team awarded the Lombardi Trophy.

The question on everyone’s mind is always the same: “Who’s going to win?” Predicting regular season games can be somewhat easier as some teams have better players and coaches than others. This is not the regular season, however. The Super Bowl displays the two best teams in the NFL. Breaking down both teams position-by-position and examining their match-ups to determine the winner is splitting hairs. Both teams have an incredible amount of play-makers and both have been resilient during adversity. Regardless of the difficulty, the matchups in this year’s Super Bowl offer some interesting things to think about before kickoff.

Experts now say that the NFL is a “passing league,” meaning that the dominant teams recently have focused their offenses around throwing the football rather than the traditional running games. With that said, both Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers are phenomenal quarterbacks. They will both make plays in this championship game, but Roethlisberger has one small detail that will set him and his team apart from Rodgers and the Packers.

Watch film of Roethlisberger throughout his career with the Steelers, the one thing that stands out at viewers is not his arm strength, accuracy or even his decision-making. His uncanny ability to avoid pass rushers in the backfield has almost been his signature characteristic. So many times linebackers and defensive linemen get within inches of taking Roethlisberger down for a sack and he steps up in the pocket or rolls outside and completes the pass downfield to one of his receivers. On several occasions, he has avoided not just one defender but two or even three to complete the pass.

The Packers are known for their explosive offense, but it has really been the defense that has led Green Bay to the championship game. Packers’ defensive coordinator Dom Capers has been utilizing linebacker Clay Matthews to wreak havoc on opposing offenses all year long. Matthews’ presence gives the Packers a dominant force that can create so many defensive opportunities for big plays. Matthews and the entire defense for Green Bay played lights out consistently. Even with that, they will not be ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Roethlisberger’s ability to escape pressure is the key to this Super Bowl. If the Packers find a way to bring him down once they get into the backfield, they have a chance. If they cannot, Roethlisberger will make them pay.

Will Roethlisberger be able to avoid the Green Bay pass rush? History tells us that he will be able to without question. Keep in mind that the Baltimore Ravens are in the Steelers division, meaning that both teams play each other twice a year. Roethlisberger has been able to avoid sacks from guys like Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata. For those of you that do not recognize these names listed, they are some of the elite defensive players in the NFL, all three playing for the Baltimore Ravens.

Roethlisberger’s challenge against the Packers is nothing new. He has seen this kind of defense before and played against better defenses than Green Bay. The Steelers’ franchise has won a total of six Super Bowls, Roethlisberger played in two of those wins. Even in a championship environment, this is nothing new for him or the rest of the Steelers.

The Green Bay Packers, on the other hand, have not been to a Super Bowl since 1998. Sure 13 years can hardly be called a “championship drought” compared to other teams, but the Steelers were last in the Super Bowl in 2009.

Green Bay will certainly score points and make plays defensively, but they will no doubt be extremely nervous. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has seen all of this before. The game will still be a challenge, but the Steelers know how to handle this. This experience will lead the Steelers to their seventh Super Bowl victory in franchise history. Another championship that, quite frankly, is nothing new to Pittsburgh.

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