The Bears defense is not as good as that of these two teams. They are not consistent, and you can throw on them. Manning is going to have a field day.
Ravens in 2000, with Trent Dilfer, 2002 with Brad Johnson, in that superbowl, it was the best defense vs. the best offense including the league MVP, and that was a rout by the defense with 5 int, also the 85 Bears didnt have a elite qb
I still think both those defenses are better than what the Bears defense is now... and that both of those offenses had more capability than what the Bears offense has now. That being said, I do hope its a good game... the line is Colts by 7, and it WILL go down (due to all the Bears fans out there), and I expect it to be a hard fought/well played game. The Colts biggest advantage now is not only their improved defense, but their ability to run the ball, and simply take what the defense is giving them with underneath routes (not just forcing it downfield at will, and if that doesn't work, no plan b).
I wanna see a remake of the Super Bowl Shuffle with the 07 roster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ1ryCgzDn8 <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OJ1ryCgzDn8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OJ1ryCgzDn8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> I'm still picking the Colts.
Bears also helped by special teams. Devin Hester with 6 (SIX!) returns for touchdowns this year. Grossman's the worst starting Super Bowl qb that comes to mind of the past 20. Gimme Brad Johnson, Stan Humphries and 2000 Trent Dilfer any day of the week over that guy.
I'm disappointed as hell that I can't locate the "Patriots and we". song. BTW, I fully expect the 92 Oilers to bum-rush this debacle of a game and bring the title where it has always been.......
A crappy matchup that leaves me way less than enthusiastic about this game. I'm with DaDakota....take the Colts and the over. This will be a high scoring game, and DaBears will have a tough time keeping pace with the Dolts, especially with Rex the Gross Man at QB. Peyton will have a field day, and after the game is over we will see him on 99.9% of all TV commercials, rather than just the 95% of them he is on now. Dolts - 41 Bores - 21 RMT....drunk and asleep through the entire second half
Of course, the matchup I wanted to see didn't happen in Saints against Patriots. I am rooting for the Bears but I don't see how they can win this game with Rex Grossman as their starting QB.
It's amazing how many people say this, and yet they've won more games than any other team except San Diego this season - all with Grossman at QB, and they've scored the 2nd most points of any team in the league (in part due to defense and special teams, but points are points).
I like the Colts...I Will this be a great game, who knows, but at least it would have been better than the Saints vs NE...
Oh I don't disagree that the Colts are a better team, but the idea that the Bears have no offense or can't win with Grossman seems misguided. They are now 15-3 on the season, and they were the highest scoring team in the NFC. Grossman is either great or terrible - more recently, he's been terrible quite a bit. But in the championship game, he made no mistakes and just let the rest of the team do its job - and they blew out a team that many people thought should have been favorites in that game. They certainly can win this game. Anytime you have a defense like that, you can win. Force a few turnovers, limit your mistakes, and who knows what happens. Will they? No idea.
They played in a weak division/conference... and they were able to dominate some teams on their schedule. Playing Green Bay/Detroit two times a year is one thing... but their non-division/intra-conference schedule included the "powerhouse" NFC West. (ironically, their toughest game of those 4 was agianst the awful Cardinals). They're the best the NFC has to offer... but they're likely below the Patriots in overall talent if they're in the AFC (which puts them at a 5 seed). I would, however, rank them higher if their entire defense was intact.
I think the Bears have a better chance than people think. In fact I probably pick a fully healthy Bears squad (Harris, Brown) because there was no way to run on them at all. Still, the Bears have great edge pass rushers and physical DBs to knock off timing routes. They also stuff the run well, just not as impossibly tough as when they had Harris. Indy wasn't lighting up the the Ravens at all, or the Colts in the 1st half. The did chew up the Pats the 2nd half, but that Pats defense looked wasted from the last game and half (remember this Pats team was beaten the week before if not for San Diego's ineptitude). Also, the Bears offense is better than people think. Great oline, two excellent backs, good mix of big play downfield and possession/blocking/physical receivers. They can ball control and beat you down strait on, and get the deep seam passes when safties have to come up. This team was 13-2 in meaningull games including the playoffs, 3-1 in others, this isn't a fluke. In short Chicago can win this game. They will play a bend but not break defense. Play tight D in the red zone and weather the storm, and pound and strip the finese Colts receivers and backs (as they did to the Saints). Do enough to keep the game close for 3 quarters. Then ground them up physically late 3rd quarter and the 4th. Think how the NYG beat the best of the Bills superbowl teams. Finally, I think three other factors work for the Bears: respect, pressure and field. 1) The Bears are going to hear for two weeks how they have no chance and the Colts already think they have won. And a mad and wound up Bears defense will be no fun at all to play, football after all is a physical sport and the Bears can knock your head off. 2) the Colts have done well IMO in no small part because the pressure was off. They were not an overwhelming favorite versus the Ravens nor Pats. Now everybody expects them to win easily, and they have not faired well when this has happened to them before (see Stealers last year, a very similar run/vertical pass/physical both sides of the ball team like the Bears). 3) Field. Indy is a speed and finese dome team, offense and defense. Chicago plays on grass. The Superbowl weather should be good, but it is on grass, which also works against timing passing routes. I am not ready to call an outright Chi win just yet, but I def like +7 points.
