Packers win Super Bowl, beat Steelers 31-25

All it took was a Super Bowl victory for the Green Bay Packers.

Capping one of the greatest postseasons for any quarterback, Rodgers led the Pack to their first NFL championship in 14 years Sunday, 31-25 over the Pittsburgh Steelers. They reclaimed the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for their legendary coach who won the first two Super Bowls and is making his own star turn in New York in the play named after him.

Rodgers, the game's MVP, thrilled his legion of Cheesehead fans with a spectacular six-game string that should finally erase the bitterness of the Brett Favre separation in Green Bay. After sitting for three long years before Favre left in 2008, Rodgers is now equal with Favre in Super Bowl wins, and he extended the Packers' record of NFL titles to 13, nine before the Super Bowl era.

"You can stop it now," veteran receiver Donald Driver said. "Aaron's proved that he's one of the best, if not the best, quarterback in this game today."

You could say it means this: Forget Lombardi on Broadway, Green Bay has the newest Super Bowl hit.

The favored Packers managed to overcame key injuries, building a 21-3 lead, then hung on to become the only second No. 6 seed to win the championship. Coincidentally, the 2005 Steelers were the other.

"Wow! It's a great day to be great, baby," said Greg Jennings, who caught two of Rodgers' three touchdown passes.

Rodgers threw for 304 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown to Jordy Nelson, who had nine catches for 140 yards to make up for three big drops. Rodgers found Jennings, normally his favorite target, for 21- and 8-yard scores.

"We've been a team that's overcome adversity all year," Jennings said, who noted injuries to Charles Woodson and Driver. "Our head captain goes down, emotional in the locker room. Our No. 1 receiver goes down, more emotions are going, flying in the locker room. But we find a way to bottle it up and exert it all out here on the field."

Woodson was in so much pain from a broken left collarbone that he could barely address the team at halftime in the locker room.

Few teams have been as resourceful as these Packers, who couldn't wait to touch the trophy honoring their greatest coach — and their title. Several of them kissed it as Cowboys great Roger Staubach, walked through a line of green and gold, and up to the massive stage on the 50-yard line with the silver prize that is headed back to the NFL's smallest city.

"That is where it belongs," linebacker A.J. Hawk said. "As long as the Packers have lived, it's going to be great to bring that back."

After sitting for three seasons, Rodgers took the Packers to two late-season victories just to make the playoffs as a wild card. Then he guided them to wins at Philadelphia, Atlanta and archrival Chicago before his biggest achievement — against a Pittsburgh team ranked second in defense.



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Robert Kubica's F1 career at risk after rally crash


Kubica's car shows severity of crash

Robert Kubica's Formula 1 career is under threat after his right hand was partially severed in a high-speed rally crash in Italy on Sunday.
He also suffered arm and leg fractures after his car hit a church wall.
Kubica, who drives for the British-based Renault F1 team, had seven hours of surgery after he was airlifted to a hospital near Genoa.
The 26-year-old Pole looks likely to miss the entire 2011 season, which starts in Bahrain on 13 March.
Initial reports suggested he was in danger of losing his hand, although those fears were later played down.
However, Professor Mario Igor Rossello, a specialist surgeon involved in the lengthy operation, said that it was too early to accurately assess the long-term implications of his injuries.
Rossello told reporters he was "moderately satisfied" with the operation to rebuild the hand, but said that it would be several days before doctors could determine whether the hand would be "able to return to full function".
He added: "The danger is, in five-seven days you can have vascular problems, and we could do surgery again to solve these problems."
When asked what the best prognosis for recovery would be, Rossello replied: "One year. One year is the best provision."
The doctor said he expected the driver to recover "enough functionality for him to resume his activity."

KUBICA STATS & FACTS


Team: Renault
Former team: BMW Sauber
Team-mate
Vitaly Petrov
Nationality: Polish
Born: 7/12/1984, Krakow
Grand Prix debut: Hungary 2006
He was operated on after reportedly being trapped in his car for more than an hour while specialist cutting equipment arrived in Peitra Ligure.
Kubica also needed surgery in 2003 after a serious road accident as a passenger that left him with titanium bolts in his arm.
Reports suggested that Kubica was 4.6km from the start of the Ronde di Andora rally on Sunday morning when his Skoda Fabia crashed. His co-driver Jakub Gerber escaped from the wreckage unharmed.
It is understood a crash barrier penetrated the footwell of the car.
Two-time world F1 champion Fernando Alonso was reportedly among the visitors at hospital as leading figures in the sport supported their stricken colleague.
As the operation took place, Kubica's manager Daniele Morelli told reporters at the Santa Corona Hospital: "Surgeons are trying to re-establish the functionality of his right hand."
He added: "Robert is very strong and he will do it."
The former driver for the BMW Sauber team regularly competes in rallies and was driving a week after a successful testing session in the new Renault car in Valencia , ahead of the season's opening grand prix in Bahrain.
Kubica had been due to lead the Renault team alongside Russian Vitaly Petrov, who has a long-term contract after signing for the 2011 and 2012 season during the winter.
The reserve drivers for 2011 include Bruno Senna - who raced for Hispania last season - and Frenchman Romain Grosjean, who drove for Renault as a replacement for Nelson Piquet Jr in 2009.
It is likely that either of these drivers will be called up for the second pre-season test which starts in Jerez on Thursday.

Kubica was an impressive performer last season to finish in eighth position in the drivers' table, securing second at Melbourne and a third in Monaco and Belgium.
The Krakow-born star also suffered a bad crash at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007 and was forced to miss one race. He returned to the same track the following year to claim his first Formula 1 victory.
Kubica's F1 colleagues have been sending messages of support.
Britain's former world champion Jenson Button, who drives for McLaren said on his Twitter page: "Shocking news about Robert Kubica. I wish him a speedy recovery."
Williams driver Rubens Barrichello tweeted: "I would like to ask you for your best wishes to Kubica. He is being operated right now. We all like him and he deserves all the best."
Heikki Kovalainen, of Team Lotus, said: "All thoughts on Kubica tonight, he's a great guy, lets hope operations go well and he makes full recovery."
Sebastian Buemi, of the Torro Rosso team, told his Twitter followers: "All my support to Robert Kubica. I am with you man"