Joe StarkeyTRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
DETROIT -- Dick LeBeau had spent 47 of his 68 earthly years working in professional football and had never experienced a championship, so his post-game reaction seemed perfectly logical.
"As soon as the game was over, and I realized it was over, I just kind of walked around and kept looking at the scoreboard," LeBeau said Sunday night in the Steelers' locker room, long after their victory over the Seattle Seahawks. "And guess what? It didn't change. It kept saying 'Pittsburgh 21, The Other Guy 10.' "
As LeBeau spoke, the last of the coaches and players were filtering out of a suddenly tranquil room. The champagne shower had long since ceased. The cigar smoke had dissipated. This particular group of men, as comprised on Feb. 5, 2006, never again would share the same locker-room space.
Bill Cowher called it "the closest team we've ever had."
Bad-boy linebacker Joey Porter made his late exit dressed, fittingly, in all-black, sporting sunglasses and a hat I won't even begin to describe.
Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt was talking to a Sports Illustrated writer as he left. It might have been his final interview as a Steelers employee. Whisenhunt is expected to meet with the Oakland Raiders about their head coaching vacancy, and if Raiders owner Al Davis has a brain in his head, he'll offer Whisenhunt the job.
One of the last players to dress was veteran defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, who was surrounded by his three beautiful young daughters.
"Daddy," said the smallest of the three, waving a piece of colored ticker tape, "are you going to keep this?"
Oh, he'll keep it, all right. He'll keep it forever tucked inside that fiercely beating heart of his.
Von Oelhoffen didn't have to wait 47 years to win a championship, but he was stuck in the NFL hinterlands of Cincinnati for the first six years of his career and went two more before he even experienced a playoff game. At 35, this was extra sweet, but von Oelhoffen knew his coaches had waited longer.
Cowher waited until his 14th year as a head coach, longer than any winning coach in Super Bowl history. LeBeau had spent nearly four times as many years as a player, an assistant and, briefly, a head coach without winning it all, though he'd been to the three Super Bowls as an assistant.
One of those times was Super Bowl XXX, when the Steelers stood toe-to-toe with the mighty Dallas Cowboys before losing on a split decision (as in, Andre Hastings split one way, and Neil O'Donnell went the other). Another was Super XXIII, when, as the Bengals' defensive coordinator, LeBeau saw Joe Montana carve him up with an 11-play, 92-yard drive as time ticked away.
"Win or lose, coach LeBeau has always given his heart to this game, to his players," Von Oelhoffen said. "So has coach Cowher. They deserve this, man. They deserve this so much."
His voice grew louder: "They have fought and fought for years!"
Cowher's calling card always was defense. LeBeau is nothing less than a defensive guru -- and it was on that side of the ball that the Steelers won Super XL. They held NFL's highest-scoring team to its lowest output of the season and NFL MVP Shaun Alexander without a touchdown for only the fourth time all season.
Matt Hasselbeck experienced his first three-sack game since November and was picked off for the first time in 23 quarters.
One key, ironically, was that LeBeau -- inventor of the zone blitz -- called off the dogs in the second half. He dropped people into coverage and invited Hasselbeck to play the patient game. Hasselbeck refused the invitation, tossing a game-changing interception to Ike Taylor on third-and-long in Steelers territory. Seattle should have played it safe and settled for a field goal there. It would have cut the Steelers' lead to 14-13.
Yesterday morning, Cowher and Hines Ward arrived at The Renaissance Center downtown for a news conference. Ward picked up his Cadillac Escalade as the game's MVP. Cowher spoke of how it all still felt "surreal."
Neither was of a mind to talk about the future. Cowher said he was going to take a week to reflect on this magical season, and that seems like the right thing to do.
One guy, however, was thinking about next year even before he left the locker room.
"Honestly? I can't wait to get back in April," said Von Oelhoffen, an unrestricted free agent who sounds as if he's not going anywhere. "We will contend for the Super Bowl for a long time, bro."
That remains to be seen, but nobody can change what happened Sunday. The score is etched in NFL lore.
Steelers 21, The Other Guy 10.
Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com
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