The Pittsburgh Steelers quest for a fifth Super Bowl title was an epic journey that took 26 years to complete. In 2004, the Steelers finished with the best record in the history of the AFC, only to lose the championship ga... more »me for the fifth time in their last six tries. The loss was particularly painful for the Steeler family because many suspected it would be the final game of Jerome Bettis' career. But the 5th all-time leading rusher in NFL history returned in 2005, hoping for one more shot at a title. In Week 14, with the team 7-5 and the season on the line, Bettis ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-9 victory over the NFC North champion Chicago Bears. The Steelers did not lose again. Highlighted by a "heart-stopping" sequence that will forever be known in Pittsburgh as the Immaculate Redemption, the Steelers improbable run to a title included wins on the road over the top three seeds in the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos. In Super Bowl XL, played in Jerome Bettis' hometown of Detroit, the Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks and became the first sixth seed in NFL history to win it all. Own a piece of history! The most anticipated and watched sporting event of the year. Complete with highlights from the Steelers regular season, playoffs and the big game itself. The 2006 release contains over 3 full hours of action, along with the pre-game, post-game, half-time shows and tons of behind-the-scenes footage.« less
Disappointing. Deceptive description. Nice season review tho
Mike in C-Bus | Columbus, OH | 03/08/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The Steelers Super Bowl XL DVD is advertised on this Amazon page and the Steelers website as having "...a cut-down version of the live Super Bowl XL broadcast...". Nowhere on this DVD is anything "live" except the Rolling Stones. It's all NFL Films footage. If you were expecting to hear John Madden and Al Michaels call actual live plays in real-time as was broadcast on ABC, forget it. The only Super Bowl XL highlights on this DVD are NFL Films style and, for a DVD titled "Super Bowl XL Steelers", there really isn't all that much time devoted to the actual Super Bowl. There is more disc space devoted to the Colts-Steelers playoff game than Super Bowl XL Too bad really. The reason I ordered it was because I wanted the live game footage. The description of this product as I've seen here and countless other websites also indicates "Pre-game predictions and post-game analysis" are included as well. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing on this disc that could be mistaken for "predictions and analysis". I was quite angered about being deceived. It's like Amazon and the other outlets simply took the disc's marketing department's pre-production description (you could order the DVD as soon as an hour after the Super Bowl, several weeks before it's official release) without making sure that these things actually made it onto the disc.
What this DVD is (and actually does quite well as) is a review of the 2005 season. I would call it a deluxe edition of what will probably the Steelers' NFL Yearbook come Summer. As a Steelers fan, I appreciated very much watching highlights and sideline stuff from this past year, quite a bit that I had not seen before and, trust me, I watch a lot of NFL programming.
What is very, very, very (did I say "very"?) disappointing about this thing is that it could have been so much more. They could have made it a two disc set, included the entire Super Bowl broadcast (without commercials), the deluxe season review (what the disc is now) and a lot more extras. The so-called "extras" on this disc are a joke. Very short snippets. It's obvious this DVD was thrown together as fast as possible in order to take advantage of the post-Super Bowl hype.
If you're a Steelers fan, I would recommend buying, if you can get it at a substantial discount. Don't pay the list price. It's simply not worth that amount.
Perhaps, somewhere down the road, they'll put out a deluxe version and get it right. I will certainly come here first to get a review before I send off my money.
Note: A day after I posted this review, Amazon removed the references to "...a cut-down version of the live Super Bowl XL broadcast...". I commend them for changing the description. This doesn't help the thousands of people who thought they were getting the live broadcast though."
Better Than Expected
Christian James | Pittsburgh, PA United States | 03/19/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Heck, after reading some of the reviews here, you'd think that this DVD is junk.
Yes, there are annoying movie previews that have absolutely nothing to do with football at the beginning of the DVD.
Other than that, I loved it. This DVD is a game-by-game review of the season that primarily focuses on highlight reel footage with audio from Hilgrove and Tunch dubbed in underneath. It begins with some footage of past failures and ends with some footage of the post-game trophy ceremony. Bettis is prominently featured throughout, but it's not all his show. You get a lot of great clips and bites of Cowher, Roethlisberger, Ward, Parker, Porter, Haggans, Russ Grimm, and Dick Lebeau.
The sideline mikes, locker-room stuff, and behind-the-scenes footage was terrific. This team is a FUNNY bunch of guys -- without this DVD, I'd never have known it. This DVD will make you laugh aloud, cringe, tear up, and cheer. Assuming you do, in fact, love the Steelers.
It's totally worth the twenty bucks. You'll watch it a dozen times before next season. How many other movies have that kind of pull?
"
Not the Pitts
Sephage | PA, USA | 03/09/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you're a long-time Steelers fan and suffered through the mid-`80s, weathering the dissapointments of super bowl interceptions and multiple AFC championship match losses.... well, then, this DVD is for you.
It has the feel of a well-conceived, well-setup, and decently written "Game of the Week" episode. The opening sequence, which sets up the recent losses in order to play up the back-story of Bettis returning for one last season, and rallying the team on to toal victory, is very well done.
The telling is totally Steelers-centric, glossing over every potentially image-tarnishing controversial moment of the playoff games and the superbowl win. Steelers fans (myself included) will not mind one bit."
Super Bowl Highlight DVD
Enhydra Lutris | 03/22/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"As others have pointed out, this is not the actual super bowl xl broadcast, but an NFL Films super bowl highlight show like the ones ESPN runs. That said, it is very well made and the DVD also includes highlights of the season's games, which would have made the "Super Bowl Champions" dvd set so much better. For some reason, you cannot buy copies of the super bowl broadcasts. A shame because those would be great to have, and someone would make a lot of money. As someone else said, you can find this at a really good price if you look around and it is defintely worth having if you are a Steeler fan."
Still a great DVD for all Steeler fans
Jason A. Hoffman | Milwaukee, WI | 03/08/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I just watched the DVD. The main program is great. It has highlights and chronicles the 2005 campaign with some behind the scenes footage and all that. Great music, and a nice program.
The bonus features are somewhat lacking. I couldn't care less about the halftime show, and I don't think anyone is going to buy this because of that. I'd rather have had the team intros or something. The SB40 promos? Eh... Media is ok as well. The Game of the Week for the Colts game is good.
My only major complaint is in the product description on this website. There is no pre-post game analysis, unless you count them saying that Pittsburgh won. And there is also no "cut-down" version of the Super Bowl. You get the highlights in with the main program. So the description is very misleading. But still a worthy purchase, especially for the price. Steeler fans will enjoy it."