COLTS WIN!

COLTS WIN!
Well, it is official, the Indianapolis Colts are the champions of the Football World. I do believe that at this very moment, Rex Grossman is being crucified by the Chicago press, and although he is not entirely undeserving of blame it seems that more rational folks are distributing the blame with a little more equality.

Well, here’s my take on the game, for all four of my dedicated readers – starting with the pre-game show.

Pre-game Coverage

Let’s see, it was about 5:00pm EST when I realized that the next sportscaster that said the word “legacy” in conjunction with Peyton Manning was going to get a bullet right in the wishbone. Honestly, I love Peyton, I’ve had the opportunity to meet him once, but he’s just a person. He plays a game for a living, and plays it well, but stop talking about him like he’s some kind of messiah. This is getting old, fast.

Cirque de Soliel was weird. They always are weird. Not only were they weird, but Gloria Estafan was just bad. Thank god that kickoff came when it did.

1st Quarter

I remember thinking to myself right before Adam kicked off “I hope Hester doesn’t run it back for a score.” Well, that didn’t work out too well for me, but whatever. Honestly, all I remember about the 1st quarter was that no one seemed to be able to hold on to the ball. When Hunter Smith flubbed the hold on the extra point, I almost had a heart attack – you can ask my wife. Finally, the 1st quarter was over.

2nd Quarter

I don’t remember much about the 2nd quarter to be honest. We had some awesome grilled ham & cheese sandwiches or something, and I had a few more beers. The most shocking memory of the 2nd quarter was after driving down the field with a few seconds left, Adam Vinatieri trots on to the field to knock down an easy 36 yard field goal…and missed. It’s okay, the Colts go into the locker room at the half up by 2 points. Then came the half-time show.

Half-time

Hmm…Prince. When I think NFL, I think…Prince? No, not really. It was truly awful; easily one of the worst half-time shows I’ve ever seen. Especially when he busts out with a goddamn Foo Fighters song. If you’re going to have Prince play the half-time show, he should probably, oh, I don’t know, play his own damn songs. Plus the fact that it was absolutely pouring buckets on him the entire show didn’t help. He looked like a drowned rat at the conclusion of the show.

3rd Quarter

Apparently, going into the locker room was the last time that we were going to see the Bears, as they certainly didn’t show up in the 2nd half. First drive of the 2nd half, Colts go down the field and pick up another field goal. Then they do it again, bringing the total to 22-17 (the Bears got a field goal, I don’t really remember when). So off we go the…

4th Quarter

This was it, right there. We were up by 5 in the 4th quarter, and all of a sudden Rex Grossman throws the ball right to our 2nd string cornerback, who takes it back TO THE HOUSE for six. Right then, I realized that this game was almost over; that feeling completely solidified on the next Bears possession when Grossman “gross-ly” underthrew Bernard Berrian on the deep route and Bob Sanders, the heart and almighty guts of the Colts Defense picked off the ball. That was it. The Bears would sputter out one more attempt, but with less than five minutes on the clock and needing two scores, they just didn’t have what it takes.

Post game

Peyton Manning got the MVP, which isn’t a surprise. I would have like to see it go to Dominic Rhodes, for 113 yards and a TD; but this was Manning’s time. Quite frankly, I rather enjoyed Tony’s speech when he had the Lombardi Trophy, it is refreshing for me to hear a sports figure give the glory to God and for me to feel as though he honestly means it.

Ahab’s Thoughts

All in all, this was a great game. For the Bears fans, I don’t think that Rex Grossman should bear the brunt of the blame, especially if you keep two statistics in mind. First off, the Colts ran the ball over 40 times for 190+ yards and a touchdown. 190 yards on the vaunted Bears defense allowed the Colts to control the ball for almost 40 minutes of the game. When you have the ball for 2/3s of the game, it makes it a lot easier to walk off as the winners.

If Chicago is looking for someone to blame, put that blame squarely on the shoulders of the Bears’ defense. They absolutely failed to get the Colts off the field when they needed to. Sure, they pretty much shut down Harrison and Wayne, but that doesn’t help when Joe Addai catches 10 balls for 66 years. It seemed like every time it was 3rd and 8, the Bears would lock down the corners, and Peyton would just dump the ball off to Addai for 10 yards.

Defense really does win championships, as evidenced last night. The better defense got the other team off the field on 3rd downs, forced 5 turnovers, and converted one of those directly into a score. The Colts came out and punched “bigger, more physical team” right in the mouth.

Congratulations to Peyton, Tony, and all the Colts. Once again you have demonstrated how not only to win, but to win with a class and dignity that is rare in modern sports. I’m proud to call Indy my home, and proud to have the Colts as our team.