I'm not a conspiracy theorist (I think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone), but I do at times throw stuff out there when it comes to sports, without actually saying there's some way the outcomes of games are manipulated.
As for the Colts-Steelers game, I think that Joey Porter may have had a point when he said that 'everybody wanted the Colts to win'. The Colts were being touted as Super Bowl entrants ever since they beat the Patriots on that Monday Night game earlier in the season. People in general wanted to see Peyton Manning get to the big show.
Once the Steelers managed to win that game and get to the Super Bowl, they then became everyman's choice to win. The storyline of Jerome Bettis going home to Detroit, winning, and then retiring is like a movie script. What could go wrong? - oh, that's right, the Seahawks were in the way, and almost ruined the script.
I'm just throwing that out there as a possibilty; I'm not totally sold on games being manipulated. But I do wonder sometimes. I've watched football a long time, and this isn't the first postseason that's had me doubting my faith in the NFL. Almost every season, there's something that makes me wince - the Tom Brady fumble...oh, I mean "Tuck Rule" call. The phantom pass interference call against the 49ers when the Redskins won the NFC title game in 1983. The phantom blow to the head by Sugar Bear Hamilton to the helmet of Ken Satbler in 1976. The list goes on and on, and I just wonder sometimes.