I had every intention of writing a pre-Super Bowl article, discussing the game and trying to reason out an excuse to pick Chicago to win due to my previously mentioned dislike of the Colts and Peyton Manning. Then, the next thing I knew, it was the weekend and from Friday - Sunday I wouldn't see the inside of my appartment or the trusty computer I use to write poorly thought out articles that I'm not entirely sure anyone reads. To make things simpler I got too caught up in the glamorous lifestyle of drinking and sleeping on other peoples couches to get around to it.
But, like all good weekends, things wound down on Sunday and I watched the Super Bowl with some friends. I went into the game cheering for the Bears, hoping the Bears could win, and dreaming of throwing yet another loss in my Colts friends face (BTW, there's nothing mean hearted about this. He'd do the same thing to me, its just the nature of our relationship).
Unfortunately, deep down inside I didn't like the Bears chances (really nobody out there did). There are 2 things you need to do to beat the Colts. You need to put up a bunch of points, because regardless of how good your defense is this Colts team puts up points. So to beat them your team needs to be able to match them, and I worried that the conservative Bears offense would struggle to put up points. And you need to win the turnover/big play battle. This one was a toss up, some games the Bears dominate the opposition with takeaways and kick returns, others Rexy and friends play hot potato with the football. Unfortunately for the Bears this was a hot potato game.
Things started off great, opening kick off ... touchdown. The Colts respond, but the Bears come right back and everythings looking good (14-6). That was probably my high point of the game. From there the Colts start clogging up the run, Rex starts fumbling snaps (it was raining like crazy), and all the wall Manning and the Colts are adding on points. Now Rex needs to start pushing a bit on offense, and when he pushed tonight the wheels came off. Two absolutely terribly thrown balls lead to 2 Colts INT's and this ball game is over.
Peyton Manning won another playoff game without being amazing. He had good stats (25-38, 247 yards, 1TD, 1INT), but they weren't great. Peyton didn't pick the team up and carry it on its shoulders to a Championship, the Colts won by playing great team football throughout this game and the playoffs. Their running game, both running backs and blocking, combined with much improved defensive play led this championship run. Peyton had a couple decent-good games (this one and New England) and a couple bad-average games (K.C. and Baltimore), but the Colts won games. May be they've finally figured things out down there in Indy, and that's a scary thought for me and for the rest of the league.
I dislike the Colts, but I do respect them. They are a very scary team, on both sides of the ball, and could be for years to come. I'm not looking forward to the brag it up call or email from my Colts fan friend, I'm not looking forward to the next 6 months of Peyton love (and the 20-30 commercials he will make) that are about follow, but most of all I'm not looking forward to the idea that I could have this same feeling again in 12 months. Enjoy it while it lasts Colts fans, as someone who enjoys the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, CIS Football and NCAA Basketball and Football and hasn't watched their favorite team win since '94 I understand the pain of a drought. Sometime soon you will to, nothing lasts forever.
P.S. And to cover the Prince part of the title, Prince sucks. He is in no way shape or form any good, and nobody likes him anymore. Whoever chose him to be the Halftime Show should be kicked in the balls. And that's all I got to say about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment