What they’re saying
Yes, at last there will be a game
The Super Bowl has everything, including a football game, which seems a little excessive at this point. But they needed an opening act for Prince.
You mean they’re going to interrupt all those commercials?
Don’t worry, you can go to the bathroom when Peyton Manning is handing off, which isn’t nearly as entertaining as his commercials.
How long is this game going to last?
It is expected to end sometime Monday morning. You can read who won in your Tuesday paper.
Bears to send shiver down Colts’ backs
It’s about 70 degrees too high, minimum.
Chicagoans are walking around Miami with legs so white they look like sun-bleached bones lying next to an empty canteen. A lifetime of winters has been spent dressed in layers, and now this. These people look a little lost. These people look a lot guilty.
But the cold toughens a man, a football team, a town. Chicago measures itself by wind-chill readings and the Bears. It doesn’t want its players to become Miami-fied, which is a nice way of saying sissified. It doesn’t want them acclimated too much to the heat or to the splashy lifestyle come today against the Colts in Super Bowl XLI.
It wants the cold to transfer, like college credits. It wants the Bears to bring that cold – that teeth-chattering, bone-chilling cold – into every tackle and every block. Make the Colts feel it. It’s not that Indianapolis doesn’t get frigid. It’s that the Colts play in a domed stadium, for goodness’ sake. It’s that their city has had an NFL team only since 1984. It’s that the Colts have a quarterback named Peyton.
Colts in a close one
You could analyze Super Bowl XLI every waking hour for one full week prior to kickoff and come to the inevitable conclusion that the performance of Chicago quarterback Rex Grossman is by far the key factor entering today’s game.
Comparing the personnel on the Indianapolis Colts and the Bears, the most lopsided apparent mismatch is at quarterback. That’s no scoop but it cannot be overstated.
Peyton Manning of the Colts already has proved he’s among the all-time 10 best quarterbacks. He’ll almost certainly play decently Sunday and might be brilliant.
Of the 40 previous Super Bowl-winning teams, 23 had quarterbacks who became Pro Football Hall of Famers, four had cinch future Hall of Fame QBs (Tom Brady three times and Brett Favre once), and four had QBs that might become Hall of Famers (Jim Plunkett twice, Ken Stabler and Phil Simms once each).
That’s 31 out of 40 and Manning could pad that list today.
The pick – Indianapolis 28, Chicago 24.
Train Rex? It could be a smooth ride
After finally crashing through the Patriots’ playoff barrier, Peyton Manning has arrived at his first Super Bowl only to find himself the game’s second-most discussed quarterback.
In his own strange way, “Train” Rex Grossman has upstaged the era’s most prolific passer.
Grossman has led Chicago to a 15-3 record, and yet there are Bears fans who will be calling for his head in the second quarter if the Indianapolis Colts have the lead.
Media members have referred to this as the greatest quarterback mismatch in Super Bowl history.
I hardly think so.
Let’s look at the evidence.
Grossman threw 20 interceptions this season. He had four games in which his passer rating was less than 40, the most of any NFL quarterback.
Do the Colts have the defense to force him into that kind of bad behavior?
The answer is no.
Grossman also threw 23 touchdown passes this season. He had seven games in which his passer rating was more than 100, which tied for the league lead.
On his good days, Grossman is very good. If he has one of those, with the Bears already owning the advantage on defense and special teams, the Colts will have no chance.
What a mismatch
Warm weather, exotic parties and disparity in quarterbacks.
That’s what the Super Bowl has become when the sport’s biggest event comes to South Florida.
Eight years ago, it was Denver’s John Elway vs. Atlanta’s Chris Chandler. Twelve years ago, it was San Francisco’s Steve Young vs. San Diego’s Stan Humphries.
Now, it’s one that could trump them all: Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning vs. Chicago’s Rex Grossman.
This could rank as the biggest quarterback mismatch in its 41-year history and remains the main reason why the Colts are a seven-point favorite over the Bears.
The time is now for both teams
Beware the parable of the 1985 Chicago Bears.
So dominant in Super Bowl XX. So unbeatable. A juggernaut that looked every inch a menacing, vigorous dynasty.
They never got back.
Sunday, then, is about taking advantage of chance.
Colt Peyton Manning: “I have never left the field saying I could have done more to get ready for that game. That gives me peace of mind. That is how I am dealing with this week.”
Bear Alex Brown: “We are in the biggest game of our lives. So there is something to lose.”
Sunday is about closure. The top item on the to-do list of most every NFL player, because without a championship, they’ll always wonder.
Sunday is about dreading failure.
Colt Manning: “My dad used to give me quotes and put a quote on my bulletin board … like Jimmy Connors’ ‘I hate to lose more than I like to win.’ And I agree with that.”