Super Bowl XLV: Attitude Will Be the Deciding Factor for Steelers vs. Packers

Super Bowl XLV will be decided on the field, but what happens off the field this week in preparation for the big game goes a long way toward deciding who gets to hoist that Lombardi Trophy.

The Pittsburgh Steelers came into town on the party train as rumors swirled almost immediately that they were hitting the clubs, and TMZ released video of Ben Roethlisberger drinking and singing at a piano bar.

The Packers came to town relatively quietly and mostly have maintained a low profile.

The question now is how each team is handling the craziness that is the Super Bowl.

There's nothing wrong with some players going out, relaxing a little bit and then calling it a night per team curfew orders. But in the case of Roethlisberger, a man vilified for the way he conducted himself at a bar in Georgia last year, going out to a bar a few days before the Super Bowl may not have been the brightest thing to do.

The history of the Super Bowl has a laundry list of players who just couldn't help themselves and caved to the pressure. Some of those players ended up not playing in the big game, and even those who did usually didn't have a good day.

The Packers walked into media day, answered some softball questions, and generally just looked "happy to be here."

The Steelers cracked a lot of jokes, about there being an underlying edge to their persona. This is an angry Steelers team. They feel like the league is picking on them (it is) and that they didn't do anything to deserve this kind of treatment (they did, too bad).

So coming out of media day, the Steelers would appear to have the edge going into the Super Bowl because I'll take the angry team over the happy team any day. Angry players have an edge to their game happy players just don't.

If you don't believe me, please refer back a few weeks to the Jets-Patriots game. That was an angry Jets team, and the Patriots got their butts kicked.

The Jets weren't angry going against the Steelers, and the Steelers won that game.

The Packers have been quiet when it comes to the party circuit but they also aren't playing angry. Looking back on the playoffs, though, the closest game you had to a grudge match was the Bears game, and the Packers didn't play that great in the second half.

There are a lot of the same players on this Steelers team that were here two years ago, so it could be this team is relaxing a little more because now they've "been there, done that," as opposed to the Packers, who haven't.

The attitude of the Steelers is one of "us against the world," as they claim the league is out to get them and that the media doesn't respect them.

The Packers are getting the nod from Vegas, but they've also approached this week in a much quieter fashion. The Packers haven't made headlines for any of their players hanging out at the strip clubs, and no TMZ video of Aaron Rodgers singing off-key at a karaoke bar have turned up.

Each team will prepare in its own way, but the attitude to which each team is approaching the preparation is just as important as to how it plays on Sunday.

Right now, the Steelers have the edge in attitude, but the Packers have the edge on control.

The Super Bowl is a business trip for both of these teams, and there will be plenty of time to party once the clock reaches zero. The winner will have six months to party, and the loser will have six months to drown its sorrows.