Super connections: Chicago-area players on big stage Sunday

Even without the Bears, Super Bowl XLV will have plenty of local flavor, most of it supplied by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But there is at least one Packer from the Chicago area who will be front and center Sunday.

Green Bay’s offensive right tackle Bryan Bulaga, of Crystal Lake, is technically a rookie, but he already has had extensive NFL experience.

He will make his 16th start of the season at Cowboys Stadium. When veteran Mark Tauscher was injured early in the regular season, Bulaga stepped in and provided an almost seamless transition.

The 6-foot-5, 314-pound Bulaga was the 23rd overall draft pick last April out of Iowa after being named the Big Ten’s offensive lineman of the year in 2009.

Just months after leaving Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock, Bulaga was starting for the Hawkeyes at left guard as a true freshman. The next two years he started 23 games at left tackle before declaring a year early for the draft.

Bulaga kept Bears defensive ends Israel Idonije and Julius Peppers off quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the NFC title game, and he has another tough assignment Sunday.

He will be matched against Steelers outside linebacker Lamar Woodley, who had 9½ sacks in the regular season. Woodley also has 10 career postseason sacks.

It won’t be any easier for Steelers offensive right tackle Flozell Adams. The 35-year-old Proviso West graduate will be responsible for protecting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger from Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews, who was fourth in the NFL with 13½ sacks.

Adams will be playing in his first Super Bowl after 13 years in the league, the first 12 with the Cowboys.

“It’s a sweet taste,” he said. “Going through all those years, you get totally disappointed, (when) you’re sitting at home watching the playoffs on TV, watching other guys that you beat. That just makes you want to work harder.”

That’s what the 6-7, 338-pound Adams has done with the Steelers, starting all 18 games after being cut in Dallas, where he started 178 games and was voted to the Pro Bowl five times.

Only twice in 13 years has Adams failed to start every game in a season.

“Flozell is a joy to be around,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “It might sound funny, (because) he doesn’t always have a great disposition. But we enjoy that about him, too.

“The thing that is probably most impressive about Flozell is that his intentions have been so pure since the day that he joined our football team. Here is a guy who’s made some money in this league, who has garnered some personal accolades in this league.

“(But) this guy just wants to win. He’s brought that mentality and that approach since Day One. He doesn’t ask out of anything. He works extremely hard. He has a ‘can-do’ attitude. All of those things endear him to his teammates, and there is a lot to respect there. He’s a big reason why we’re here.”

So, too is workhorse running back Rashard Mendenhall, of Skokie, who already has carried the ball 371 times for 1,440 yards and 16 touchdowns counting the postseason.

After Mendenhall rushed for 4,585 yards in his final three years at Niles West and averaged more than 10 yards per carry his final two seasons, he set single-season records at Illinois in 2007 with 1,681 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns.

Mendenhall had a disappointing rookie season in 2008, which ended on the same day he got his first start. He suffered a fractured shoulder on a brutal hit by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis.

But in the two seasons since he has rushed for 2,381 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Mendenhall’s teammate, nine-year veteran wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, has been to the ultimate stage before with the Steelers — in Super Bowl XL. After four seasons with the Redskins, he came back to Steel City in the off-season to do it again.

The versatile Randle El has returned 5 punts and 1 kickoff for touchdowns in addition to catching 370 passes.

He was the Gatorade football player of the year in Illinois in 1996 as a senior at Thornton High School in Harvey and scored 69 points in a basketball game.

As a baseball player, he was a 14th-round pick of the Cubs in 1997. At Indiana he played basketball and baseball in addition to football.

As a quarterback at Indiana, he threw for 385 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for 82 yards — in his first game — setting an NCAA freshman record of 467 yards of total offense.

Though he always has been a wide receiver in the NFL, his passing talents haven’t gone to waste.

Throughout his career, Randle El has thrown 27 passes, completing 22 for 323 yards, 6 touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 156.1 on a scale in which 158.3 is perfect.

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Randle El threw 2 passes this year, both of which went for touchdowns. In Super Bowl XL, his 43-yard TD pass to Hines Ward clinched the Steelers’ victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

If there is a difference-making trick play in Sunday’s game, chances are Randle El will be involved.

Super Bowl XLV Chicago-area connections

Steelers players

OT Flozell Adams Proviso West High School

WR Arnaz Battle Notre Dame

OG Trai Essex Northwestern

RB Rashard Mendenhall Niles West High School, Illinois

WR Antwaan Randle El Thornton High School, Indiana

Steelers coaches

Off. asst. Harold Goodwin Bears asst. O-line coach (2004-06)

Packers players

OT Bryan Bulaga Marian Central Catholic High School, Iowa

Packers coaches

RB’s Edgar Bennett Bears RB 1998-99

Asst. O-line Jerry Fontenot Bears OG (1989-96)

Follow Bob LeGere’s Bears reports via Twitter@BobLeGere. Check out his blog, Bear Essentials at DailyHerald.com