The officiating was terrible, and the play of both teams sucked. Pittsburgh's play just sucked a little less than Seattle's though, and it was enough to pull out a very ugly win.
The NFL needs to take a long hard look at the officiating in their league. Ridiculously blown calls have been a festering problem for a number of years now. At the same time, the league also needs to take a long hard look at the level of play it offers it's fans; that has been declining sharply for some time now.
I attribute part of the problem to too much expansion too fast, which necessarily demands that teams dress out more and more marginal players who, in past years, wouldn't have even made the practice squad, let alone the first team.
But I also think a big problem is the coaching. After every season, lots of coaches lose their jobs, but instead of opening up slots for new faces and new ideas, what ends up happening is a big game of musical chairs as losing coaches just move from one team to another, bringing their losing ways with them. And when a losing coach does actually leave the game, he is replaced by an assistant who learned all of the coach's losing ways and implements them on the team whose coaching chair he occupies this year.
Finally, the free agency and salary cap system in place has created a league of roving hired guns who drift from one team to another over the courses of their careers. A player like Brett Favre, who stuck with one team for most of his career, is an abberation any more. The whole concept of a team is lost, and what you have instead is a bunch of guys who just happen to be wearing the same uniform that season.
And for Pittsburgh, the team will be completely different next year, as they won't be able to stay under the salary cap and cover the huge raises that the players on a Super Bowl winning team will be able to demand. They'll be forced to pick a few stars and cut the rest of them loose, and as a result I'll bet they don't win more than 8 or 9 games next season. Bellichick and New England were able to beat that trend, but it caught up to even them this year. But what usually happens is what happened to Tampa Bay; after winning the 2003 Super Bowl, they didn't even crack .500 the following season.
I wouldn't count on that. The only significant free agent they will lose this year is Antwaan Randle El. Big Ben will probably negotiate a contract extension. But Bettis is gone. Staley is walking. Ward is tied-up long-term. And there will be no big defections.
The Steelers will be fine. 15-1 last year. Super Bowl Champs this year. Super Bowl contenders next year, and in the years to come. They've been an elite franchise for 15 years (not including the 70s domination) and manage their cap and roster better than anyone. They will continue to contend.