American football: Packers win Super Bowl

The Green Bay Packers won their fourth Super Bowl on Sunday, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes and Nick Collins returned an interception for another score. Rodgers was named the most valuable player of the game.

The Steelers trailed 21-3 before halftime and Ben Roethlisberger got them within 28-25 midway through the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass and a nifty 2-point conversion. The Packers answered with a field goal, giving Roethlisberger one last chance.

Needing to go 87 yards in 1:59 with one timeout left, Roethlisberger couldn't make it across midfield.

The Packers won the first two Super Bowls with Vince Lombardi coaching Bart Starr, and captured another with Brett Favre in January 1997. This was only the second time Pittsburgh lost a Super Bowl. The Steelers still have the most wins with six, and are tied for the most appearances with eight.

Green Bay led 21-17 after three quarters, but the Packers were without cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Sam Shields and receiver Donald Driver.

The Steelers had the momentum, the experience and the crowd - tens of thousands of fans twirling "Terrible Towels" and making things tough for Rodgers to bark out signals at times.

But on the first play of the fourth quarter, with Pittsburgh possibly driving for a go-ahead touchdown, Rashard Mendenhall fumbled on a hit by Clay Matthews. The Packers took over at their own 45.

Jennings caught his second TD pass of the game to give the Packers a 28-17 lead with 11:57 to play - their third touchdown following a takeaway.

The Packers' final points came on a 23-yard field goal by mason Crosby with 2:07 left.

Christina Aguilera got the game off to a rocky start by flubbing a line in the national anthem. The Steelers didn't do much better at the outset.

Green Bay jumped ahead 14-0 with touchdowns on consecutive plays: a 29-yard touchdown catch by Jordy Nelson, then Collins' interception, which featured a weaving return and a dive into the end zone.

Rodgers stretched the lead to 21-3 by drilling a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jennings. The ball whistled past safety Ryan Clark, with Jennings making a tough catch look easy just before getting popped by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. That drive also was set up by an interception, a pickoff at midfield by Jarrett Bush.

Roethlisberger's miserable first half turned a little better at the end.

Taking over deep in his own territory after Jennings' touchdown, he threw a 37-yard completion to Antwaan Randle El. That started a seven-play, 77-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown catch to former Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward.

Also on that drive, Woodson hurt his collarbone diving for a pass. He spent the second half in street clothes, with his left arm in a sling, appearing quite uncomfortable. Driver was out with an ankle injury, and Shields hurt a shoulder.

With two defensive backs out at the half, everyone expected the Steelers to come out throwing in the third quarter. Instead, they gained all 50 yards on their opening drive on the ground, with Mendenhall bowling in from the 8 for the touchdown.