Steelers' Loss In Super Bowl XLV Had All-Pro Receiver Puka Nacua Overjoyed

The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the largest fan bases in the world, both domestically and internationally. They are one of the most successful organizations in all of professional sports, which has drawn a lot of fans to the franchise. This means the Steelers find themselves with a lot of players throughout the NFL that grew up rooting for the Black and Gold. One of those players is not Puka Nacua, but his entire household growing up was full of Steelers fans. 

Nacua is coming off one of the best rookie years from a receiver in NFL history. He owns many rookie records, including receptions in a season, receiving yards, receptions in a game, and receiving yards in a playoff game. His impressive season earned him a Second Team All-Pro nod, and he was also voted to the Pro Bowl. In a recent appearance on Maxx Crosby's podcast, The Rush, Nacua opened up about his rookie season, and he also discussed his NFL fandoms when he was younger. 

"My family was like a Steelers family because of Troy Polamalu. I'm Samoan, so yeah. That's like a natural team everyone goes to, or the [San Francisco] 49ers, teams where the [Polynesian] players have gone. But man, I loved Aaron Rodgers, I was a Cheesehead as a little kid. When they won in 2011, I remember being the only one in my family that was so happy."

Nacua is referencing the Steelers' most recent Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 2010 NFL season, where they lost Super Bowl XLV to the Green Bay Packers. The final score was 31-25, and the Steelers have yet to make it back to the big game. It was the only Super Bowl for Aaron Rodgers so far in his career, in which he won MVP. 

The Steelers went down in the game early on, after Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown to make the score 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Each team scored a touchdown in the second quarter to make the score 21-10 going into halftime. The Steelers made it a close and competitive game at the end of the fourth quarter with the score being 28-25, and they were driving down the field with an opportunity to either tie the game up, or take the lead. This is when the infamous Rashard Mendenhall fumble occurs, and the Packers capitalized to extend their lead to 31-25. The Steelers came up short in completing their comeback. 

Rodgers out-dueled Roethlisberger on his way to Super Bowl MVP, throwing for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns. Roethlisberger threw for 263 and two touchdowns, but he also had two costly interceptions. The game was lost for the Steelers due to the turnovers from Roethlisberger and Mendenhall, which allowed Nacua to be the only one celebrating in his household on Super Bowl Sunday at the end of the 2010 season.

Steelers Were Victims Of Nacua's Excellence In 2023

The Steelers visited the Los Angeles Rams and Nacua in Week 7 of the 2023 NFL season. This was the first game where Joey Porter Jr. played more than 50 percent of the defensive snaps, despite still not starting. Nacua was targeted 12 times during his matchup with Pittsburgh and he caught eight of those passes for 154 yards. The Steelers won the game 24-17, but Nacua is the main reason the Rams were able to stay in the game. 

Porter Jr. was not responsible for the majority of Nacua's success in Week 7. He only gave up two completions for 22 yards in the game, which was pretty good for a rookie playing starter-level snaps for the first time, especially when you take into account that he was going against Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Nacua.