TAMPA, Fla. — Few football franchises have so many great alumni who appear on the field to whip up the fans each time the team appears in the Super Bowl. But there was Lynn Swann, the great Pittsburgh Steelers receiver, a Terrible Towel in his hand, right before kickoff Sunday, just the way that Franco Harris, the great Steelers running back, had appeared three years ago in Detroit. Swann and Harris delivered Super Bowl titles as part of the Steelers’ dynasty a generation ago, and Swann was a subtle reminder that while the Arizona Cardinals were the team dusted with magic in these playoffs, the Steelers had history on their side.

That history got a few new heroes on Sunday night to stand beside Swann and Harris, Joe Greene and Jerome Bettis. After a frenetic finish, the Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl title — more than any team in the National Football League — not because of their defense, but because an oft-maligned offense allowed them to defeat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-23.

After the Steelers lost a lead they had held since after the first possession of the game and which once ballooned to 13 points, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and receiver Santonio Holmes connected for a 6-yard touchdown that Holmes grabbed as he was falling out of bounds behind three defenders.

The touchdown came with 35 seconds remaining and just two minutes after the Cardinals moved ahead on Larry Fitzgerald’s 64-yard touchdown reception. The victory capped a season that began with a question about whether the Rooney family would own the Steelers much longer, traveled through the league’s toughest schedule and concluded with the team’s chairman, Dan Rooney, holding the Lombardi Trophy, the Steelers’ second championship in four seasons, to add to a crowded trophy case.