Worst. Super Bowl. Ever.

Clearly, 41/XLI was the worst of them all and what I have yet to hear is how gutless Lovie Smith was for not pulling Rex Grossman, by far the worst QB ever to play in the Roman numeraled-one and the worst performance in one, quite a daily double! If Lovie pulls him at the half, he gives the Bears a chance to win. If he pullls him late in the third quarter, the Bears still have a chance to win. If he pulls him at the start of the fourth quarter, he gives his Bears a chance to win. But he was gutless and went with a guy who played pathetically bad. For weeks now his defense and his special teams and his running game and even Grossman playing just well enough to not lose, had Lovie and the Bears saying all the right things. Rex is our quarterback, Rex is 15-3. Rex is the starter. Bull! And the team closed ranks and parrotted their coach. Football is all about lockstep. But I'd like to hear what Urlacher has to say now. What anybody on that defense that was on the field all day has to say now. What Devin Hester has to say now. The defense gave up 22 points. Not bad to the #1 offense in the NFL and not bad for not sacking Manning till the end. And not bad for being on the field forever and giving up field position often when the offense, read Grossman, gave the ball up. (Although Benson and the receivers put the ball on the ground quite a bit.) But Rex, you were no Wonder-Dog. You were simply a dog. And Lovie, your job is to put players on the field who give your team the best chance to win. At the half everyone knew it wasn't Rex's night. Like Brando in On the Waterfront, it wasn't his night. But he won't get the big fight in the ballpark ever again. Bears, drop him, sign Jeff Garcia, and with that defense, you will be back next year. And you will win. On the good side, I did win my three bet teaser - Colts +2.5, Bears +14.5 and under 56.5. Yes. Vegas, baby!!!

super bowl-my god, i've seen them all!!!

So this is my XLIst Super Bowl and included in that is the great game in person with family and friends at the Rose Bowl when the Giants beat the Broncos 39-20 with Simms going 22 for 25 and my Giants finally winning the Lombardi Trophy (first of two! remember Scott Norwood?). I love this match-up - anytime you have the #1 offense going against the #1 defense you have the makings of a great game. Amazingly, when this has happened in Super Bowls past, 4 or 5 times I think I read, the #1 DEFENSE has always won. I actually think it has a good chance of happening again. And here's why:
The Bears are going to play the Colts the same way that Giant team beat the Bills once upon a time. Sadly, the rules prevent them from mugging Andre Reed, I mean Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, downfield, but they will use their Cover 2 and rely on Urlacher downfield to watch Dallas Clark. I actually like the Bears two-headed running back, Jones/Benson, better than Addai/Rhodes of the Colts right now. They run very hard, very strong. And the Colts will not be able to stop them for the entire game. While I feel the Bears D will be able to stop Addai and Rhodes. If Manning throws 40 times, Bears win. The Bears rotate defensive ends, have the two best linebackers on the field (Urlacher and Briggs), Harper has the high-ankle sprain, Bob Sanders is dinged, Devin Hester is the X-factor providing field position on punts and kickoffs, and the pressure is all on Peyton to win. The Bears can just play as full touchdown underdogs, both teams have great kickers, although Vinatieri is special, and Grossman, as lame as he has been, does not make his team lose. And he is back in Florida where he played college ball. I think there are so few expectations of him that if Hester gives him a short field two or three times Sunday, Grossman and the running backs will come through. I look for a 2 or 3 point game, hopefully decided at the end. And don't be surprised if it ends up Bears 26, Colts 24. And even though he isn't the coach any longer, as they used to say on SNL, Ditka'd find a way!
BTW, congrats to Thurman Thomas, who almost beat the Giants himself back in that Norwood game, on making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To Roger Wehrli, a great DB back when the Cardinals always had an interesting white guy back there - Larry Wilson, Wehrli, Pat Fisher - congrats, Charlie Sanders, great tight end for the Lions back in the day, always liked him on those Thanksgiving games, congrats. Gene Hickerson, you blocked for the best, Jim Brown, and then for Leroy Kelly. Congrats. And Bruce Mathews, all those years, all those positions, all those consecutive games. Wow. Congratulations.

Football Saturday

Okay, so I was wrong about Ohio State-Florida. It's not like I started a land war in Asia. Anyway, I have a new plan for this weekend. Indy and Baltimore - offense vs. defense, advertising wonderboy Peyton Manning vs. double-murderer Ray Lewis, the Colts that left Baltimore in the dead of night with their insane owners who deny their Jewish heritage (the Irsays, nee Israel) and the Ravens who were partially founded by Art Modell, who left Cleveland in the lurch. Lots of bad blood, lots of history. And all I keep reading about is how the Colts stopped Larry Johnson and the Chiefs last week after not stopping the run all year. Well, the Chiefs made the playoffs after an extraordinary set of circumstances on the last day (Broncos lose at home, as did the Bengals) and their coach insistd on playig Trent Green the entire gaame when he simplyh sucked and yes, the Colts stopped Larry Johnson but that's once all season. The Ravens were #1 on defense in almost every stat that matters and why should that stop now? They will not allow Peyton to outscore them, they will score on defense, and they will win. And they will cover the 4, 5 point spread.
Philly at New Orleans should be interesting as well. But consider this - the Giants, the Giants for god's sake, gave the Eagles everything last week and should have won had they scored earlier in the game with the ball in great field position. Leto Sheppard is out for the Eagles, tough cover corner. And yes, they play with emotion, BUT that will be nothing compared to the emotion the Saints and the crowd and the city of NOLA bring to this one. Plus, if there is an X factor in all these games this weekend, it is Reggie Bush. Get him 20 touches - carries, catches, returns - and he will break something. Maybe not all the way but certainly field position. And emotion. Saints win. Saints win.
As for the other news of the week, the man who is still not my President made his Gulf of Tonkin speech on Wednesday and it is only a matter of time before the self-fulfilling prophecy of larger Middle Eastern conflict comes to fruition. Thank you, Republican cowards. Lincoln is spinning in his grave.