ARLINGTON, Tex. As the confetti rained down, landing on his black Super Bowl XLV champions hat and his dark green Green Bay Packers pullover, the coach found himself thinking about the path.

He had talked so much about it, one of the many buzzwords and catchphrases real confidence, nobodys underdog, our brand of football during the past several weeks, and now, he had reached the end of the path. Standing atop a silver football-shaped stage and watching his players and fellow coaches experience the unbridled joy of their 31-25 Super Bowl XLV victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the coach couldnt help but go back to the day it all began.

This journey started the Monday after the Arizona playoff loss, Mike McCarthy would explain later, recalling the teams gut-wrenching 51-45 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Wild Card round a year earlier. Every year as a head coach, you have exit interviews, and that Monday after the Arizona loss it was different. I went home, and I was actually at peace with the conversations I had with so many of our players.

Our players were disappointed, but they were excited because they knew they had a good team, and there was an opportunity that they didnt take advantage of. Guys were talking about, Hey, when does the offseason program start?

We wrote a different path than we expected, but thats life. You have to deal with the changes thrown at you. We always thought wed be here. And were here. And we finished this.

That they did, doing precisely what they had done all season, overcoming seemingly debilitating injuries this time to defensive leader Charles Woodson, veteran wideout Donald Driver and nickel cornerback Sam Shields just as they had while watching 15 players land on season-ending injured reserve throughout the year. Running back Ryan Grant, who was the first to go down when he broke his ankle in the season-opener at Philadelphia, called the night a microcosm of the season, but it was more than that.

Thats who we are. Were an adversity-hurdling team, said wide receiver Greg Jennings, who caught a pair of touchdown passes from Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers. And we showed that resolve again today. Weve done it all year.

And through it all, their confidence remained sky-high. If the day after his teams loss to the Cardinals was the start of the path, there were two mileposts along the way that demonstrated how thoroughly convinced he and his team were of its potential greatness. The first came in training camp, when McCarthy, at the suggestion of Rodgers, mounted an empty frame in the team meeting room, alongside the team photos of the franchises previous 12 championship teams.

The next one came on Saturday night, as the 9 oclock team meeting at the Omni Mandalay hotel at Las Colinas broke. After ending the meeting with another one of McCarthys favorite sayings This is our time! the coach had representatives from ring maker Jostens waiting for his players in the hallway to fit them all for their Super Bowl rings in the ultimate show of confidence.

We loved it. That showed the confidence coach McCarthy has in us, veteran defensive end Ryan Pickett said. Coach McCarthy is so underrated as a coach. Hes just a great leader. He had us believing in ourselves all year even when everybody else didnt, coach McCarthy stayed the course. He told us, Were going to be on that wall. Were going to win this world championship. And we bought into it. That was the difference this year. We felt like we were going to do it, and we did it. We did it.

But it wasnt easy, even though the way the game began, it appeared it would be a runaway.

Sprinting to a 21-3 lead on Rodgers 29-yard touchdown to Jordy Nelson, followed by safety Nick Collins 37-yard pick-six interception return for a touchdown and Rodgers 21-yard touchdown throw to Jennings, the Packers were well on their way to their 13th NFL championship with 2:24 left until halftime, even with Driver having limped off the field on the previous drive.

But then, two plays after Jennings touchdown, Woodson ran stride for stride with Steelers wideout Mike Wallace down the left sideline, breaking up a deep ball from Ben Roethlisberger but landing hard on his left shoulder. In obvious pain, he stayed on the field for one more play after a Packers timeout before heading to the sideline, and then the locker room. The next time his teammates would see him, he would be in the locker room in street clothes, his shoulder in a sling, his collarbone broken.

Having delivered a simple two-word speech before the game Just win! Woodson couldnt put together that many words when he spoke to his teammates before they went back out for the third quarter.

He broke down pretty quick, Jennings said.

Still, the message got through.

They understood how much I wanted it, said Woodson, who had been elected the teams top captain and had delivered all the pre- and post-game speeches leading up to Super Bowl Sunday. I was pretty emotional, so I didnt get a whole lot out, but I just told them to get it done. And they did.

But not without some incredibly tense moments against a team stocked with two-time Super Bowl champions (XL, XLIII) that refused to go gently into the North Texas night. With Woodson and Shields both out, Roethlisberger converted a third-and-10 from the Packers 40-yard line with a 14-yard strike to Hines Ward, then hit Ward again for a 17-yard gain to the Green Bay 8. On the next play, fourth-string cornerback Jarrett Bush lost Ward on a corner route, and the Steelers were within 21-10 going into halftime.

A pair of penalties led to a three-and-out by the Packers offense to open the third quarter, and the Steelers wasted no time. Starting at midfield, running back Rashard Mendenhall broke free for a 17-yard gain, and after backup running back Isaac Redman got loose for a 16-yarder on third-and-1, the Steelers were back in business at the Green Bay 8. This time, it was Mendenhall finishing off the drive, waltzing in from 8 yards out to pull the Steelers within 21-17.

Suddenly, there was reason to wonder whether McCarthys confident credo from the night before This is our time was in fact true.

Our guys just kept fighting, McCarthy said.

Finally, the fighting bore fruit. After their fourth straight three-and-out offensively, the Packers defense opened the fourth quarter facing a second-and-2 at their 33-yard line and the Steelers threatening to take the lead. Had they done so and gone on to win it would have marked the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. But Clay Matthews, Pickett and Desmond Bishop had other ideas, and when Mendenhall took a handoff from Roethlisberger, Matthews and Pickett were in the backfield immediately. The ball popped free, and Bishop scooped it up.

I was able to get around my guy and make a solid hit on the football, Matthews explained. I wasnt sure that it had come out until I looked up and saw Desmond with the ball.

Thats what weve been doing all season long creating turnovers. We know if we can create turnovers, give the ball back to our offense, its going to be hard to beat us.

From there, Rodgers threw a strike to James Jones on the right sideline for a 12-yard gain on third-and-7, but after Jordy Nelson bobbled and dropped what would have been a big gainer on second-and-10 from the Pittsburgh 40, the Packers faced another critical third down. No matter. Rodgers coolly went right back to Nelson across the middle, and Nelson, catching the ball at the Pittsburgh 28-yard line, turned the play into a 38-yard gain down to the Steelers 2. Two plays later Rodgers hit a wide-open Jennings for an 8-yard score that pushed the lead back to 11 at 28-17.

We go into halftime, and we come out without guys like Donald Driver and Charles Woodson. Guys had to step up and play, said Nelson, who set career highs in receptions (nine) and receiving yards (140) in the biggest game of his life. Thats what its been all year. Guys stepped up and made plays all across the board.

But taking advantage of the Packers depleted defense, the Steelers responded with a seven-play, 66-yard drive that culminated in Wallaces 25-yard touchdown catch from Roethlisberger, and after Antwaan Randle El scored on the ensuing 2-point conversion, the Steelers were within a field goal at 28-25 with 7:34 to go only to see the MVP come through in the clutch.

With his team facing third-and-10 from its own 25 and clinging to that lead with under 6 minutes to play, Rodgers dropped back in the shotgun. With Driver out, he had four receivers Jennings, James Jones, Nelson and Brett Swain spread wide with running back Brandon Jackson in the backfield. Jennings, lined up in the left slot, got a clean release off the line of scrimmage and zoomed on a post toward the middle of the field.

Rodgers, who would end up completing 24 of 39 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns (111.5 rating), saw Jennings break open and whipped a strike past the outstretched arms of lunging Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, hitting Jennings right in stride. If Jennings doesnt make the catch and, on a night when his fellow receivers had some critical drops, that was no sure thing its an incompletion that leads to a punt and gives the Steelers a chance to tie or win the game.

Instead, Jennings reeled in the pass at the Packers 45-yard line, and might have gone the distance had newly minted NFL Defensive Player of the Year Troy Polamalu not cut his legs out from under him at the Pittsburgh 44. No matter. The momentum inside Cowboys Stadium had swung decidedly back into the Packers favor.

Huge. Outstanding throw by Aaron, Jennings said afterward. Polamalu makes a great play getting me down.

It just got over the top of (Taylors) outstretched hands. They were in 2-man, and it seemed like (the ball) brushed off the tip of Ike Taylors glove. But it just got over the top enough to where I could make a play on it. And here we are, Super Bowl champions.

Not yet they werent. Forced to settle for a 23-yard Mason Crosby field goal, the Packers gave the ball back to the Steelers with 2:07 to play, knowing Pittsburgh could beat them with a touchdown and an extra point, just as the Steelers had done in their most recent meeting, on Dec. 20, 2009 at Heinz Field. In that game, Roethlisberger had thrown for a franchise record 503 yards, the final 19 of which came on a touchdown strike to Wallace as time expired.

There would be no such heartbreak this time. In fact, just as they had in their playoff victories at Philadelphia in the NFC Wild Card round and at Chicago in the NFC Championship Game, the Packers squelched any thought of a comeback even more quickly than they had in those games. A 15-yard Roethlisberger completion to Heath Miller was followed by a 5-yard completion to Ward, and that was it. A.J. Hawks pressure forced Roethlisberger to throw the ball away on second down, and a misfire by the big quarterback on third down left a fourth-and-5 at the Pittsburgh 33 with 56 seconds to go.

When Roethlisberger threw high to Wallace and Pro Bowl cornerback Tramon Williams the last of the Packers corner triumvirate still standing broke up the pass, the celebration was on. Rodgers knelt twice, and the path had reached its end: The Super Bowl XLV title.

Its named the Lombardi Trophy for a reason, said Rodgers, who was hoisted onto the shoulders of his teammates after the victory. We play and live in Titletown. Weve got the best fans, an organization that believes in us, gives us the opportunity to be successful and I cant wait to go home and see those fans and bring them the Lombardi Trophy. Its been incredible to end four playoff games with Go Pack Go! chants. Its a special place to play, and all of us are blessed to live and play in Green Bay.

The character in that locker room is like nothing Ive ever been a part of. Its just a special group of guys that believe in each other, love each other. Its a great feeling, it really is. We accomplished our goals. We talked about it March 16 when we met for the first time, and here we are, the world champions.

"Jason Wilde" wrote: