For the first week and a half of the interminable wait between the championship games and the Super Bowl I was thinking that the Colts were the pick. I thought Peyton got over a big hump against the Patriots and that he, Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison and the rest of the crew were due for their turn in the spotlight. The Bears struck me as a team that was just happy to be there especially when I kept reading things about Alex Brown and other players being out late at parties in Miami. I can't blame them for going out and enjoying life but it was worrisome, especially because of the history of what happens to players when the Super Bowl is in Miami. I had visions of Ricky Manning Jr. or Danieal Manning or one of the other Tito-esque Manning brothers soaked in blood, their face caked with coke a la the end of Scarface and two dead hookers in the bathtub. There's no one on the Colts pulling any shit like that unless Peyton gets an endorsement from the escort agency.
Then I saw this clip.
That's when I realized that my thinking about this whole Super Bowl had become uptight. This wasn't about one team or another being due, this wasn't even about which team was better on paper or on the field, it was about which team had more to prove. The Sex Cannon's been doing everything he can to prove himself on the field (he needs no help off of it) and he's starting in the Super Bowl in his first full season as a starter, that's gotten lost in here somewhere, and he's fucking tired of all the people saying he sucks. And the way he's pissed about it, not ranting and raving but reasoned and relaxed, well, that would give me great confidence if I'm a Chicago Bear.
And that's why I'm picking them. Because if Jeff Hostetler, Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer could win Super Bowls because of their defenses why can't Rex? Why can't Mark Anderson, Brian Urlacher and Adewale Ogunleye get after Peyton the way Baltimore and Kansas City did? And Alex Brown and Tank Johnson and Lance Briggs and Israel Idonije? And why are people so confident that Nick Harper and Jason David can stop the deep ball? Harper can't even stop his wife for heaven's sake and he's gonna put the kibosh on Bernard Berrian's streak of astounding long touchdown catches? The Colts gave up an 80 yard return to Ellis Hobbs, what happens when they have to kick to Devin Hester? Too much has been made of the difference between Peyton and Rexy and without a complete meltdown from Grossman, I don't see Indy as the better team at all. And like I said, I think Rex is slingin it like the Cannon that he is, so beware ladies of South Beach. You've seen a lot, I know, but you ain't seen nothing like this.
Chicago (+7) over Indianapolis
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Comments