Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2010 season. The Packers defeated the Steelers 31–25. The game was played on February 6, 2011, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the first time the Super Bowl was played in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.
Unlike most other Super Bowls, this game featured two title-abundant franchises: coming into the game, the Packers held the most NFL championships with 12 (9 league championships prior to the Super Bowl era and 3 Super Bowl championships), while the Steelers held the most Super Bowl championships with 6. The Packers entered their fifth Super Bowl in team history, and became the first 6-seed team in the NFC to compete in the Super Bowl, after posting a 10–6 regular season record. The Steelers finished the regular season with a 12–4 record, and advanced to an, at the time, league-tying 8th Super Bowl appearance.
Super Bowl XLV was initially dominated by Green Bay, jumping to a 21–3 lead before Pittsburgh cut it down to 21–10 just before halftime. Then after the teams exchanged touchdowns, the Steelers cut their deficit to 28–25 midway through the fourth quarter with wide receiver Mike Wallace's 25-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and a two-point conversion. But the Packers answered with Mason Crosby's 23-yard field goal with 2:07 remaining, and then prevented the Steelers from scoring on their final drive of the game. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP, completing 24 of 39 passes for 304 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The broadcast of Super Bowl XLV on Fox averaged about 111 million viewers, breaking the record for the most-watched program in American television history. The game's attendance was 103,219, just short of the Super Bowl record 103,985 set in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The halftime show featured the American hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas, with additional performances by Usher and Slash.
Prior to Super Bowl LV, it was the last time that a wild-card team made or won the Super Bowl. This is also the most recent time either of the teams have made the Super Bowl, despite appearing in a combined five conference championships since then.
Game summary[]
| Team | Conference | 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Steelers | AFC | 0 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 25 |
| Green Bay Packers | NFC | 14 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 31 |
Starting lineups[]
| Pittsburgh Steelers | Position | Green Bay Packers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | |||
| Ben Roethlisberger | quarterback | Aaron Rodgers | |
| Hines Ward | wide receiver | Greg Jennings | |
| Jonathan Scott | left tackle | Chad Clifton | |
| Chris Kemoeatu | left guard | Daryn Colledge | |
| Doug Legursky | center | Scott Wells | |
| Ramon Foster | right guard | Josh Sitton | |
| Flozell Adams | right tackle | Bryan Bulaga | |
| Heath Miller | tight end | running back | James Starks |
| Rashard Mendenhall | running back | wide receiver | James Jones |
| David Johnson | full back | wide receiver | Donald Driver |
| Matt Spaeth | tight end | wide receiver | Jordy Nelson |
| Defense | |||
| Casey Hampton | nose tackle | left defensive end | Ryan Pickett |
| Brett Keisel | right defensive end | nose tackle | B. J. Raji |
| LaMarr Woodley | left outside linebacker | right defensive end | Howard Green |
| James Farrior | left inside linebacker | defensive end | C. J. Wilson |
| Lawrence Timmons | right inside linebacker | left outside linebacker | Clay Matthews |
| James Harrison | right outside linebacker | left inside linebacker | A. J. Hawk |
| Bryant McFadden | left cornerback | right inside linebacker | Desmond Bishop |
| Ryan Clark | free safety | right outside linebacker | Frank Zombo |
| Troy Polamalu | strong safety | left cornerback | Charles Woodson |
| Ike Taylor | right cornerback | free safety | Nick Collins |
| William Gay | cornerback | right cornerback | Tramon Williams |
Entertainment[]
Pre-game[]
| Artist | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Keith Urban Maroon 5 Texas Christian University Horned Frog Marching Band |
Pre-game show performers |
| Christina Aguilera Candice Villesca (American Sign Language interpretation) |
"The Star-Spangled Banner" |
| Lea Michele Air Force Tops in Blue Candice Villesca (American Sign Language interpretation) |
"America the Beautiful" |
| 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees (led by Deion Sanders) | Coin toss ceremony participants |
Halftime[]
- Headliner: The Black Eyed Peas
- Special guests: Slash and Usher
- Director: Hamish Hamilton
- Producer: Ricky Kirshner
- Sponsor: Bridgestone
Set list[]
| Artist | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| The Black Eyed Peas | "I Gotta Feeling" "Boom Boom Pow" |
| Slash Fergie |
"Sweet Child O' Mine" "Slither" (guitar solo) |
| The Black Eyed Peas | "Pump It" "Let's Get It Started" |
| Usher will.i.am |
"OMG" |
| The Black Eyed Peas | "Where Is the Love?" "The Time (Dirty Bit)" |
Broadcasting[]
United States[]
| Network | Play-by-play announcer | Color commentator(s) | Sideline reporter(s) | Rules analyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox | Joe Buck | Troy Aikman | Pam Oliver and Chris Myers | Mike Pereira |
| Westwood One | Kevin Harlan | Boomer Esiason | James Lofton and Mark Malone |
Other programming[]
| Programming type | Program |
|---|---|
| Lead-out program | Glee |
| Counterprogramming | Puppy Bowl VII (Animal Planet) |
| Lingerie Bowl VII (Pay-per-view) |
Commercials[]
| Product type | Advertiser/product |
|---|---|
| Beer | Bud Light |
| Budweiser | |
| Stella Artois | |
| Car | Audi |
| Chevrolet | |
| Chrysler 200 | |
| Ford | |
| Hyundai | |
| Mercedes-Benz | |
| Mini | |
| Volkswagen | |
| Film | Captain America: The First Avenger |
| Cowboys & Aliens | |
| Limitless | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | |
| Thor | |
| Transformers: Dark of the Moon | |
| Electronic trading | E*TRADE |
| Food | Doritos |
| Soft drink | Brisk |
| Coca-Cola | |
| Pepsi Max | |
| Store | Best Buy |
| Website | CareerBuilder.com |
| GoDaddy.com |
International[]
| Country | Network |
|---|---|
| Asia | All Sports Network |
| Europe | ESPN America |
| Latin America | ESPN, Fox Sports |
| Australia | One HD, Network Ten, ESPN |
| Austria | Puls 4 |
| Belgium | Prime Sport, BeTV |
| Brazil | BandSports, Rede Bandeirantes, ESPN |
| Canada | CTV, RDS |
| China | Dragon TV, G-Sports, GDTV Sports, BTV Sports, CNTV 5+, Sina TV, QQLive |
| Denmark | TV3+, TV3+ HD |
| Finland | Nelonen Pro 1 |
| France | W9 |
| Germany | Das Erste, Sport1+ |
| Hungary | Sport 1 |
| Iceland | Stöð 2 Sport |
| Ireland | BBC One, BBC One HD, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD |
| Israel | Sport 5 |
| Italy | La7, Dahlia TV |
| Japan | NHK BS1, NTV G+ |
| Mexico | Azteca 7, Canal 5 |
| Netherlands | Prime Sport |
| Norway | NRK |
| Poland | Polsat Sport |
| Portugal | Sport TV |
| Romania | Sport 1 |
| Russia | NTV Plus |
| Slovenia | Šport TV 1 |
| South Africa | ESPN |
| Spain | Canal+ |
| Sweden | TV10 |
| Switzerland | SSF |
| United Kingdom | BBC One, BBC One HD, Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD, BBC Radio 5 Live |