Patriots ice Steelers to reach Super Bowl

The New England Patriots overcame the Pittsburgh Steelers 41-27 in the AFC Championship title match played in a numbing -12C to reach their third Super Bowl in four years and will now meet the Philadelphia Eagles, who saw off the Atlanta Falcons in similarly brutal conditions at Lincoln Financial Field.

New England, the defending champions, have quickly been installed as the favourites and can become the first team to win three Super Bowls in four seasons since the Dallas sides of 1992-95. Super Bowl XXXIX takes place in Jacksonville, Florida, on February 6 and when temperatures will be a more amenable 24C.

Tom Brady of the Patriots gave the inexperienced rookie Ben Roethlisberger a lesson at Heinz Field, throwing two touchdown passes - one to Deion Branch that gave them a 10-0 lead and which they improved to 24-3 in the first half. Roethlisberger threw three costly interceptions in his first loss in 15 NFL starts.

"It wasn't a great game on my part but I learned an awful lot this season," said Roethlisberger after he failed to become the first rookie quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl. "We had a great season but there are a lot of people - some in that locker room - that now think it's a disappointment."

Brady was 14-of-21 for 207 yards and no interceptions to Roethlisberger's 14-of-24 for 226 yards and two scores. For the Steelers it was also a fourth loss in five AFC Championship home games since 1995.

Philadelphia made it to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1981 loss to Oakland Raiders, seeing off the team that play in the Georgia Dome and who were always likely to struggle in the brutal conditions. The Eagles had lost three consecutive NFC title games, moreover, but Dono van McNabb's effective passing and defence corralled his opposite number, Michael Vick, in a 27-10 win played with the mercury at -8C and north-westerly winds gusting to 35 mph. The wind chill factor was also below zero as a foot of snow had fallen across much of Pennsylvania.

The Eagles quarterback completed 17 of 26 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, running 10 times for 32 yards. "There's no relief for me. I'll be relieved after the Super Bowl," McNabb said. "I set a goal to win the Super Bowl. That's where I'm going with it. We're not done and there's no reason for it to stop now."