Super Bowl XLV is a throwback game.
Green Bay has never faced Pittsburgh for the championship, but NFL fans know these two franchises all too well. After perennially mediocre franchises such as Arizona, New Orleans and Seattle cluttered recent Super Bowls, old school teams return to the grandest event in sports.
Everybody roots for a team to win its first Super Bowl as a payback for long suffering fans. But seriously, who enjoys seeing one-shot franchises in the big game? You want legends. And the Frozen Tundra vs. Steeler Town is straight from the vaults of NFL Films.
The Packers are the gold standard -- the first great dynasty of the Super Bowl era. The Steelers were kings of the 1970s, winning four titles. They now go for their seventh overall.
Amazingly, it has been 14 years since Brett Favre won Super Bowl XXXI for the Packers' third crown. Green Bay made it back the following year and lost to Denver. It hasn't reached the big game since despite plenty of regular-season success.
Pittsburgh followed Miami as the NFL's third dynamo, winning four times from 1974 to 1979. But unlike the Packers, the Steelers didn't fade away. After losing the 1995 Super Bowl, Pittsburgh won in 2005 and 2008. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, 38, will be the youngest coach to reach his second Super Bowl.
Get ready for two weeks of stories on Vince Lombardi and Chuck Noll. How Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw once ruled the land. That everyone from Green Bay is heading to Dallas for the game. Not that Pittsburgh won't travel well.
You gotta love it. The one-shot wonders delivered interesting Super Bowls, but nothing beats tradition.
The Packers were an underrated sixth seed, so that they won three road playoff games in a weak NFC wasn't too surprising. Green Bay is the 10th different NFC team to reach the Super Bowl in 10 years. Chicago's third-string quarterback made Green Bay sweat out a 21-14 victory for the NFC title on Sunday, but the Packers claimed the George Halas Trophy without question.
Pittsburgh beat the New York Jets 24-19 in the AFC Championship game after leading 24-0 in the first half. Fans are suffering from exhaustion after waving those Terrible Towels nonstop as the wind chill factor dipped to sub-zero.
The Steel Curtain rises again.
The Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders love to sell their history, but the Steelers live it. Pittsburgh is a perfect example of drafting well and letting aging veterans depart for others to overpay. Green Bay also wins without breaking its checkbook.
Two storied franchises again showed their brethren how to win. Maybe competitors finally will study their old school methods of success.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail rsnider@washingtonexaminer.com