I don't
really have a lot to say about that game last night. It was
a crappy game (if I ever again say I like the idea of a
Super Bowl played in inclement weather, please remind me of
this game), certainly one of the worst I've seen, and I
actually left the TV and started cooking in the kitchen for
some of the second half.
The MVP of
the game was Rex Grossman, who had a pitiful performance.
The runner-up MVP was the weather, which caused some key
turnovers and sacks. Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai both
deserved the MVP award. Instead, of course, they gave it to
Peyton Manning. The last time I disagreed with the MVP award
was when Tom Brady won it when the Patriots beat the Rams;
But even Brady's QB rating in that game was 5 points higher
than Manning's was in this game, and there were truly no
standouts in that Patriots win (both Rhodes and Addai really
shined in this game). But, the NFL decided it was Manning's
year, so he got the award.
Watching
the postgame show was discouraging. According to Colts coach
Tony Dungy God was the game MVP and he let everyone know it.
I've never liked the Colts, and I like them less after two
weeks of Dungy's God bullshit.
I don't
know what more to say. I feel less interested about this
offseason than ever before, couldn't care less who's taken
in the draft and where, and haven't visited NFL.com all day,
which hasn't happened the day after a Super Bowl in a long,
long time.
I hope this
all changes, but right now I'm just burned out on the NFL.
"Thank God"
Stanford basketball is going to be in the NCAA tournament
again. I'll be spending the next six weeks praying every
moment for their success.
The Sloppy
Bowl:
As an Indianapolis Colts fan, I loved Super Bowl XLI, a
29-17 Colts win over the Chicago Bears. But my guess is that
most fans were pretty bored in the second half as the Bears
stumbled and bumbled and never came close, displaying one of
the worst offenses in Super Bowl history.
How
dominant were the Colts? This is one game where stats didn't
lie:
After the
Bears scored their only offensive touchdown with 4:34 to go
in the first period, they failed to reach Colts territory on
eight of their final 11 passions (on two of those eight,
they were in Colts territory for two plays).
More numbers:
First downs: Colts, 24 to 11; Total yards: Colts 430-265
(100 of the Bears' yards came on their last two drives in
garbage time); Total plays: Colts 81-48; Time of possession: Colts 38:04 to 21:56 (in
the second and third quarters the Colts had a 21-9 minutes
edge); Number of Bears' possessions of four plays or fewer:
seven; Yards rushing: Colts 191 to 111.
The Bears
committed five turnovers, including two killer interceptions
by Rex Grossman when the game was still in the balance. One
was returned 56 yards for a score by Kelvin Hayden, a backup
defensive back for the Colts who had never intercepted a
pass in his two-year NFL career. Grossman also lost one
fumble, and fumbled one more time on third down that killed
a drive.
One drive,
with the Bears only down 22-17 late in the third, typified
their night. Chicago had a second-and-1 at the Indy 45, and
decided to put the game in Grossman's hands – it was a fatal
error. Grossman slipped as he backed from center and was
sacked for an 11-yard loss on second down. On third down,
Grossman fumbled and lost 11 more yards. Second and 1 became
fourth and 23.
As inept as
the Bears were, the Colts could never totally blow them out.
Four times the Colts started with the ball inside Chicago
territory and they did not score on any of the possessions.
The biggest culprit was the often heavy rain, the first time
it ever rained in a Super Bowl. The wet conditions led to
six first-half turnovers combined, including two sequences
where the teams fumbled away the ball on consecutive plays.
The irony is that the 2005
Colts were a better team than this year's edition, but lost
in a first-round upset. The 2006 Colts were a lot more
resilient, coming back from being down 21-3 in the AFC
Championship Game and 14-6 in the Super Bowl. There is no
doubt they were the best team in the league. In beating
Baltimore, New England and Chicago consecutively, Indy beat
the teams ranked 1-2-3 in scoring defense, a first.
And we finally put to bed
the nonsense about Peyton Manning been a big-game loser. He
has now won seven of his last 10 playoff games. A sure
Hall-of-Famer before the playoffs, he can now add champion
to his resume.
The win also confirmed the
dominance of the AFC, which has won eight of the last 10
titles. The real Super Bowl was the Colts' 38-34 AFC title
game win over New England; the Bears would have been lucky
to make the playoffs had they been in the AFC.
MVP?:
I know many people will quibble with Manning being
named MVP, but not me. In a game where there was no
individual standout performance, Manning deserves it as much
as anyone. After all, had the Colts lost he would have been
everyone's whipping boy. Manning survived a shaky start to
lead a Colts domination in terms of ball control and keeping
the Bears off balance.
Colts
running back Dominick Rhodes, with 113 yards rushing and a
touchdown, also would have been an acceptable MVP. I liked
when he said on the NFL Network that he would have loved to
win the Cadillac, given to the MVP. It's was a refreshingly
honest remark. For my money, the collective MVPs were the
Colts offensive line, which physically dominated the Bears,
allowed Manning to be sacked only once and opened huge holes
for Rhodes and Joseph Addai.
I do agree
with Cyd that the player most responsible for the Colts' win
was Grossman; I guess there's nothing wrong with issuing a
reverse MVP. Grossman could drive off in a Yugo.
Shut up about
the Lord:
Sorry, Tony Dungy and Colts owner Jim Irsay – God did not
want you to win the game. If such a deity exists, he/she/it
has bigger things to worry about.
Irsay and
Dungy's overt prostelyzing was nauseating, made even worse
by Dungy's
upcoming appearance before an anti-gay Christian group.
This kind of in-your-face God-squadding suggests that they
are in some way superior, and they need to be called on it.
As a friend
wrote me about Dungy after the game:
"He is the sort of fundamentalist who truly believes that
his way is the only way and thus wants to shove it down
everyone's throat, and feels further emboldened by a
meaningless football victory that he feels infuses him with
even greater legitimacy."
"The Lord
orchestrated this," Dungy said on the NFL Network about
Indy's Super Bowl season. I guess the Lord must have laid
the seven.
Dinner's
not on me:
The Colts win got me dinner at any restaurant in Los
Angeles, paid for by five other friends in a season-long NFL
pool. I picked the Colts to win the Super Bowl in this pool
and the 10 points I got from it vaulted me past my friend
Kathy. With the average bill around $700, the winner always
picks a very nice place, so I will put my thinking cap on. I
want to thank the Lord for orchestrating all of this; I hear
He is pissed at Cyd.
Commercials:
Yawn. I have never been a big fan of the Super Bowl
commercial hype and this year was even worse than ever. The
only time I laughed was for the short promo that saw David
Letterman (in Colts garb) on a couch with Oprah (in Bears
getup). The only one that grabbed me visually was for the
upcoming movie "Pride," about a swim meet pitting black and
white swimmers – the bodies they showed in the promo were
superb. The rest were not worth commenting on, save for the
one that tried to make a bank hostage situation into a joke;
that was just tasteless.
Superstitions:
I consider myself well-educated and rational, a non-believer
in miracles and hocus pocus. So I can't explain the
game-time superstitions I developed watching the Colts this
season that I cling to like they're life and death.
I wore the
same Colts shirt for all four playoff wins. I watched the
last three wins on the same seat at Dave Kopay's house. I
forbade the three people I was watching the Super Bowl with
from leaving the room during a play, lest the karma be
changed. I was ignored three times: Dave missed the opening
kickoff – Bears touchdown. My friend Jim Allen was in the
bathroom for one play – 52-yard run to set up a Bears
touchdown. Dave was in the kitchen at the end of the first
half – Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri missed his only field
goal of the playoffs. Suffice it to say, nobody
missed a play in the second half.
Bad omen:
Teams that return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Super
Bowl are now 2-6.
Comeback:
The Colts' rally from eight points down was the
second-largest comeback in SB history (The Giants were down
nine when they beat the Bills).
Best TV
moment:
Don Shula walked the Vince Lombardi trophy up to the podium
past a gauntlet of Colts players. Spontaneously, one, then
another and another touched the trophy like it was blessed.
It was unscripted and showed total joy on the players'
faces. They should make that a tradition since the only
players we ever see on the podium are the quarterback and
maybe one other player.
Bettors love the Colts:
The Colts covered the spread in all four playoff games. My
pregame pick: Colts 34-17.
They said
it:
From RG Mike, on the
Outsports Discussion Board: "That Cirque du Soleil
number just now was the gayest thing I've seen at the Super
Bowl since Cher sang the National Anthem in '99."
