One step to Motor City

FOUR teams, two places in Super Bowl XL; one final step to glory for the teams in this weekend’s Championship games.

And despite what the pundits said the favoured few are not among tomorrow’s competitions. The Pittsburgh Steelers visit the Denver Broncos, while the Carolina Panthers travel to the Seattle Seahawks.

And the players know that there is no second chance for the teams wanting to take the trip to Detroit.

Carolina Panthers wide receiver, Steve Smith – who played superbly against Chicago last week – put it simply: “There’s no next week.”

Denver have been away from the big game for too long in the view of their fans, but the longest serving coach in the NFL, the Steeler’s Bill Cowher is desperate to reach the Super Bowl.

And if anyone typified that desire it was quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with his despairing tackle to stop a recovered fumble being run back by the Colts for a heartbreaking touchdown.

For the Seattle Seahawks it is almost a case being noticed. Mike Holmgren led the Green Bay Packers to Super Bowl glory before upping sticks to Seattle.

Seahawks fans firmly believe that their teams improvements have gone ignored because of they are in the Pacific north west of the US, away from the media spotlight in the US.

Seattle has a well-rounded game, but it will be the ability of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to deal with the Carolina defence that will be the game decider.

The Panthers, with the Steelers, are facing the toughest challenges. If they reach the Super Bowl they will be the first teams since the Patriots in 1985 to win three play-off road games to that far.

Is it a game too far? If they are to overcome 20-years of history the Steelers will have to find a way past safety John Lynch’s ability to blitz and cover, while Pittsburgh will need their safety Troy Polamalu to do exactly the same thing.

Both players enjoyed superb games last week, quarterbacks look out!

ENDS