Super Bowl VII featured two teams that felt fortunate to escape their respective Championship rounds with late fourth quarter comebacks as the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Carolina Panthers.

Pittsburgh got the ball first and had an impressive drive going until Brett Favre was intercepted by Eric Wright on 2nd and 8 at the Carolina 23 and Wright took it back 33 yards to the Carolina 45. Peyton Manning wasted no time leading a 5 play 55 yard drive through the air connecting with Miles Austin for the final 8 yards and a 7-0 lead 8:04 left in the first quarter. After Pittsburgh punted it was Manning’s turn to throw an interception and a 50 yard Chris Gamble return put Pittsburgh in business at the Carolina 9 but Brett Favre fumbled the snap two plays later and Carolina escaped without giving up a score.

After each team traded punts Manning was picked off again this time by James Farrior and Pittsburgh went 43 yards in four plays with Favre hitting Donald Driver from 21 yards out to tie it 7 with 11:59 left in the first half. Carolina answered after getting good field position at their own 38 and driving 28 yards to set up a David Akers 51 yards field goal to take a 10-7 lead with 9:36 left in the half. Pittsburgh answered with the drive of the game going 90 yards in 13 plays and chewing up 8:27 and when Favre hit Devin Hester over the middle for 18 yards they had a 14-10 lead with 1:01 left in the half.

Carolina took advantage of a 43 yard slant to Miles Austin with a missed tackle allowing Austin to score a huge momentum touchdown with only 24 seconds left in the half. Akers extra point was missed and Carolina took a 16-14 lead into the locker room

Carolina received the second half kickoff and methodically moved the ball down the field going 82 yards in 11 plays with manning hitting Antonio Gates on a 4 yard out to make it 23-14 with 9:12 left in the third. Pittsburgh was driving to get back into the game but a huge 12 yard sack on 3rd and 2 from the Carolina 33 forced a Pittsburgh punt. Manning continued the hot hand leading an 11 play 93 yard drive finished off with a 3 yard slant to Jerricho Cotchery to put Carolina ahead 30-14 with 13:39 left. Favre had no quit in him driving the Steelers to the 4 yard line but three passes all fell incomplete and Carolina took over with 6:02 to play. After a Carolina punt Favre was able to get the ball down the field again and this time he hit John Carlson on 4th and 2 with 39 seconds left to make the final 30-21.

Pittsburgh ended up with a 25-23 first down and 413-411 yard advantage. Peyton Manning took home MVP honors completing 26 of 37 for 333 yards and 4 TD’s though he was picked twice. Brett Favre had a solid game for Pittsburgh hitting 29 if 46 for 354 and 3 TD’s. 

Rashard Mendenhall rushed 13 times for 87 yards, while Gates and Randy Moss each grabbed 7 balls and Miles Austin chipped in with 5 balls for 92 yards and 2 Td’s for Carolina. Donald Driver lead all receivers with 7 balls for 113 and a TD while Chris Cooley added 6 for 62 for Pittsburgh. The defensive stars were Eric Wright with 10 tackles and an INT and Carlos Dansby 10 tackles, 2 stuffs, 1 forced fumble and a deflection for Carolina while Chris Gamble had 10 tackles, 2 deflections and an INT for Pittsburgh.