Super Bowl XLI - Preview
This time last year, the Seattle Seahawks were in the Super Bowl and I was in India, unable to relish the whole Super Bowl experience. This year, I am here in Seattle but the Seahawks are not in the Super Bowl and it is only now I realize how much fun I have missed last year. Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you are someone who talks to me quite often about football, you would know that the Colts are not my most favorite team. It is the Patriots whom I admire (obviously, after the Seahawks). I have great respect for the Colts team but being a fan, no. When the Patriots blew a 18 point lead to lose to the Colts 2 weeks back, I was naturally dejected and lost interest in the Super Bowl. But hey, after all it is the Super Bowl and as a football fan, there is nothing like this and so, I wanted to write down my thoughts on the big game.
Just like what happened before the College football national championship game, this Super Bowl title has already been given to the Colts even before the game has actually started. It does not surprise anyone bcos of the glaring and telling difference between the players playing the all important Quarterback position in the 2 teams - Peyton Manning vs. Rex Grossman. While Peyton already holds a long list of NFL records and is sure to end up in the NFL Hall of Fame even if he were to hang his boots today, Rex Grossman is being unfortunately billed as the worst quarterback ever to lead his side to the Super Bowl.
To me, I would like the Bears to win, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost - I hate this media hype about how the AFC is far better than the NFC. Whenever I read an article which talks about the difference in quality between the teams in the NFC and AFC, it just drives me crazy. Of course, the NFC teams have been indifferent this season. While 4 teams in the AFC had a 12-4 or better record, only 1 NFC team had a record better than 12-4. But somehow I
think that Bears, when their offense is on song, are one of the toughest teams to beat in the league and Bears, being the NFC representative in the Super Bowl, I would like to see them win.
Other reason is the upset that happened in the Buckeyes - Gators national championship, where the Buckeyes after holding on to the number 1 ranking in college football right from the pre-season, saw nothing going their way in the Championship game, in the face of a spirited performance by the underdogs, the Florida Gators and ultimately lost rather badly. So, something keeps telling me that history might repeat itself in the Super Bowl too.
Anyway, apart from my hunches and instincts, I sincerely feel that the Bears have a very realistic chance of upstaging the Colts, if and only if, Grossman does not commit the sort of turnovers that he has become (in)famous for. I believe that the Colts haven’t faced a defense, that is even close to being as powerful and strong as the Bears defense, all season long. I would say that the Baltimore defense was the toughest defense they played all year and we all saw how the Colts won that game - not by Peyton's arm, but by Vinatieri's right foot. The Bears offense is a lot better than the Ravens, with a formidable running game. Except for Larry Johnson, the other running backs the Colts have faced this post-season - Jamal Lewis and Corey Dillon - are clearly over-the-moon players. So, the Colts’ much-improved rush defense will have their hands full with Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. On the offensive side, the whole world knows what Peyton Manning can do. But the Bears are known for their big plays and if Grossman connects couple of long passes to Muhsin Muhammad or Bernard Berrian, the Bears will be able to come back rather quickly into the game even if they were down in a big way. Then, there is also the looming threat of Devin Hester who hasn’t done much in the post-season after returning 6 punt, FG & kickoff for TDs during the regular season and thus will be raring to go. So, if Grossman's stats at the end of the game look something like 14-20, 172 yards, 1 TD, O INT, the Bears are in good shape to win this one.
Fingers crossed. Go NFC Champs...
Just like what happened before the College football national championship game, this Super Bowl title has already been given to the Colts even before the game has actually started. It does not surprise anyone bcos of the glaring and telling difference between the players playing the all important Quarterback position in the 2 teams - Peyton Manning vs. Rex Grossman. While Peyton already holds a long list of NFL records and is sure to end up in the NFL Hall of Fame even if he were to hang his boots today, Rex Grossman is being unfortunately billed as the worst quarterback ever to lead his side to the Super Bowl.
To me, I would like the Bears to win, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost - I hate this media hype about how the AFC is far better than the NFC. Whenever I read an article which talks about the difference in quality between the teams in the NFC and AFC, it just drives me crazy. Of course, the NFC teams have been indifferent this season. While 4 teams in the AFC had a 12-4 or better record, only 1 NFC team had a record better than 12-4. But somehow I
think that Bears, when their offense is on song, are one of the toughest teams to beat in the league and Bears, being the NFC representative in the Super Bowl, I would like to see them win.
Other reason is the upset that happened in the Buckeyes - Gators national championship, where the Buckeyes after holding on to the number 1 ranking in college football right from the pre-season, saw nothing going their way in the Championship game, in the face of a spirited performance by the underdogs, the Florida Gators and ultimately lost rather badly. So, something keeps telling me that history might repeat itself in the Super Bowl too.
Anyway, apart from my hunches and instincts, I sincerely feel that the Bears have a very realistic chance of upstaging the Colts, if and only if, Grossman does not commit the sort of turnovers that he has become (in)famous for. I believe that the Colts haven’t faced a defense, that is even close to being as powerful and strong as the Bears defense, all season long. I would say that the Baltimore defense was the toughest defense they played all year and we all saw how the Colts won that game - not by Peyton's arm, but by Vinatieri's right foot. The Bears offense is a lot better than the Ravens, with a formidable running game. Except for Larry Johnson, the other running backs the Colts have faced this post-season - Jamal Lewis and Corey Dillon - are clearly over-the-moon players. So, the Colts’ much-improved rush defense will have their hands full with Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. On the offensive side, the whole world knows what Peyton Manning can do. But the Bears are known for their big plays and if Grossman connects couple of long passes to Muhsin Muhammad or Bernard Berrian, the Bears will be able to come back rather quickly into the game even if they were down in a big way. Then, there is also the looming threat of Devin Hester who hasn’t done much in the post-season after returning 6 punt, FG & kickoff for TDs during the regular season and thus will be raring to go. So, if Grossman's stats at the end of the game look something like 14-20, 172 yards, 1 TD, O INT, the Bears are in good shape to win this one.
Fingers crossed. Go NFC Champs...
Labels: Sports
posted by Filbert at 3:27 PM
1 Comments:
Though the experts are kind of evenly divided over their picks for the game, what you need to see is the betting odds - the Colts are favored to win by 7. That should say that the Colts are the clear favorites. All that is needed to prove which conference is the better one is the result we will have tomorrow. Lets see.
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