Warner has MVP Game in Super Bowl Loss

Super Bowl XLIII was probably one of the best Super Bowl’s in history. Kurt Warner has now played in three of arguably the top five Super Bowl’s in history and is 1-2. Warner probably went to sleep thinking about how the interception at the end of the first half cost the game for the Cardinals, a 100 yard TD return by Pittsburgh going into the half. I still can't believe nobody could make a tackle on that play.

It might be the play everyone remembers because it changed the momentum of the game. The Cardinals were on the doorstep of taking the lead, and instead gave up six to the Steelers. The other play everyone will remember is of course Santonio Holme’s catch in the corner of the end zone giving the Steelers the lead with 35 seconds left in the game, maybe the best catch ever in the Super Bowl.

However, if I was Warner, I would go to bed thinking, if only the defense could have stepped up and made a play. Warner kept his team in the game and if the Cardinals won for sure put up MVP type numbers. Warner was 31-for-43 with 377 yards and three touchdowns.

The Arizona defense committed three personal fouls on one Steelers drive allowing Pittsburgh to score on a 79 yard drive that took 8:39 off the clock. Granted it was only a field goal, but still points on the board for a 13 point lead.

The one thing that worried me, along with the coaches for the Cardinals and every fan of the Cardinals out there, was the fact that there was too much time left on the clock when Larry Fitzgerald scored on a 64-yard reception for a 23-20 lead with 2:37 left.

The defense could not hold the Steelers. All Warner could do is watch as the Steelers marched down the field and somehow Ben Roethlisberger found Holme’s in the corner of the end zone floating a ball over three defenders. The Cardinals had just 30 seconds to go the length of the field.

Just like in Super Bowl XXXVI against the Patriots when Warner brought the Rams back from 14 points down, Warner did it again in Super Bowl XVIII bringing the Cardinals back from 13 points down. Unfortunately, just like the game against the Pats, the Cardinals defense could not make a game saving stop.

It was hard to watch Holme’s make the catch in the corner of the end zone behind three defenders. Especially when he nearly made the same catch a play before on the other side of the end zone.

This wasn’t how the game was supposed to end. Warner’s Hollywood script was about walking off the field with a second Championship, a second MVP and something nobody ever will probably do again. Take two teams that were the laughing stock of the league to the promise land. Instead, it ended with Warner walking off the field in a shower of confetti as the other guys celebrated again.

Ironically though, while Warner has been the victim of poor defense in his last two Super Bowl’s, Warner’s one Super Bowl win came down to great defense, maybe the greatest single defensive player ever in the Super Bowl, with the Rams Mike Jones making a game saving tackle in 1999 in the waning seconds.

Warner is two good defense stands away from having three Super Bowl Championships. His numbers in the post season are undeniable though, he is one of the greatest.

Warner is a Hall of Famer, win or lose.