Super Bowl XLI: Bears vs. Colts, Sun 2/4, 5:30 pm CT

[dew1679666265]

I still contend, the Bears will still the better team (even with Harris and Brown, but with those two, there is NO DOUBT who would be better) but I concede that the better team don't always win the Super Bowl.

 

Oh c'mon. As much as I'd like to believe that, seeing as how you tore up my Saints, that's just a bit much. Look at the .500 or above teams the Colts beat this year: Patriots twice, Ravens, Eagles, Jaguars, Bengals, Jets, Giants, Titans, Broncos, Chiefs, and the Bears. That's 11 teams.

 

.500 or above teams the Bears beat: Green Bay, Seattle twice, Giants, Jets, Rams, and Saints. That's 6 teams.

 

Plus the Colts nearly had a second win over the Titans (while we were playing as well as anybody at the end of the year) if not for the Rob Bironas miracle (fluke) 60-yard field goal.

[dew1679666265]

I still contend, the Bears will still the better team (even with Harris and Brown, but with those two, there is NO DOUBT who would be better) but I concede that the better team don't always win the Super Bowl.

 

The Colts deserve their due, but the Bears really, really helped them out tonight.

 

The Colts did their share of helping out the Bears too.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

No offense but a lot of you have sour grapes right now.

 

You'd think the Bears just lost the Super Bowl or something.

 

The uncalled for sarcasm aside, being a fan doesn't give you the right to flat out make ridiculous excuses and badmouth the other team. The AFC has been dominant all season and I don't know why many of you are so surprised. Nothing happened in this game that hasn't happened all year long, for either team.

 

Edit: What is your deal anyway TT? I can count on one hand the seconds it takes you to reply with condescension to whatever it is I may post. Is this all about sabrmetrics? *hug*

 

You're in the Bears game thread. Like any Cubs game thread, there's less of a rationality threshold that's maintained because of the immediate reactions to everything that happens. Add in that it was the championship game that the Bears just lost and it's hardly cause for getting upset. And I'm not even a Bears fan.

 

And honestly I don't remember any particular posts of yours, aside from a recent one where you pointed out that apparently you and I disagree on a lot of stuff. Sorry if you think I'm stalking you.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

No offense but a lot of you have sour grapes right now.

 

You'd think the Bears just lost the Super Bowl or something.

 

The uncalled for sarcasm aside, being a fan doesn't give you the right to flat out make ridiculous excuses and badmouth the other team. The AFC has been dominant all season and I don't know why many of you are so surprised. Nothing happened in this game that hasn't happened all year long, for either team.

 

Edit: What is your deal anyway TT? I can count on one hand the seconds it takes you to reply with condescension to whatever it is I may post. Is this all about sabrmetrics? *hug*

 

It happens when your team has just lost the championship - a game they certainly could have won.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Am I right in thinking that the Bears are having a losers parade when they return?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

And honestly I don't remember any particular posts of yours, aside from a recent one where you pointed out that apparently you and I disagree on a lot of stuff. Sorry if you think I'm stalking you.

 

In all fairness, most of your 21519 posts have come in response to his 286.

[TruffleShuffle]

]I still contend, the Bears will still the better team (even with Harris and Brown, but with those two, there is NO DOUBT who would be better) but I concede that the better team don't always win the Super Bowl.

 

Come on... the Colts were outgaining the Bears almost 4:1 at one point in the 4th quarter. I was actually afraid that the Bears would find a way to win the game when it was 22-17, because it seemed to me that the Colts had been so much better than the Bears for just about the entire game, and I wanted the better team to win. I know you guys aren't happy with the way that your coordinators approached the game, but even if your defense had been more aggressive or if Turner had done whatever you wanted him to do, this was a very good Colts team.

 

It sure looked to me like the Colts were and are the better team.

[NCCubFan]

You're in the Bears game thread.

No, he's in the Super Bowl thread. There aren't separate threads for Bears fans and Colts fans. This is a Cubs board, not a Bears board.

[OleMissCub]

Grossman is going to join his place with all the other Florida QB's who couldn't hack it in the NFL: Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Jesse Palmer, Doug Johnson, Shane Matthews, now Rex Grossman? Wonder what Chris Leak will do?

[rickrolled]

You're in the Bears game thread.

No, he's in the Super Bowl thread. There aren't separate threads for Bears fans and Colts fans. This is a Cubs board, not a Bears board.

 

It's pretty much at least 80-85% Bears fans though...

[Transmogrified Tiger]

You're in the Bears game thread.

No, he's in the Super Bowl thread. There aren't separate threads for Bears fans and Colts fans. This is a Cubs board, not a Bears board.

 

Semantics aside, there's a roughly 4 trillion to 1 Bear fan to Colt fan ratio. It's not like it was the Cowboys and the Steelers in the Superbowl who have 3 fans apiece here.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Grossman is going to join his place with all the other Florida QB's who couldn't hack it in the NFL: Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Jesse Palmer, Doug Johnson, Shane Matthews, now Rex Grossman? Wonder what Chris Leak will do?

 

Yup, best to judge a quarterback after his first full season of play.

[NCCubFan]

You're in the Bears game thread.

No, he's in the Super Bowl thread. There aren't separate threads for Bears fans and Colts fans. This is a Cubs board, not a Bears board.

 

It's pretty much at least 80-85% Bears fans though...

Probably pretty close to that. My main point was that non-Bears fans aren't really the same as non-Cubs fans on this board. Although definitely a minority, there are several Cub fans who post here that are also Colt fans, and they're entitled to their say in this thread just as much as Bears fans are. It's not like fans of another team trolling as we might look at it in baseball if non-Cubs fans rub things in.

[OleMissCub]

Grossman is going to join his place with all the other Florida QB's who couldn't hack it in the NFL: Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Jesse Palmer, Doug Johnson, Shane Matthews, now Rex Grossman? Wonder what Chris Leak will do?

 

Yup, best to judge a quarterback after his first full season of play.

 

I put a question mark after Grossman's name.

[NCCubFan]

Semantics aside, there's a roughly 4 trillion to 1 Bear fan to Colt fan ratio. It's not like it was the Cowboys and the Steelers in the Superbowl who have 3 fans apiece here.

Come on; surely it's at least 4 trillion to 2. :D

[Brian]

man i'm not going to wake up for class tomorrow :( it's going to be so depressing

[dew1679666265]

Grossman is going to join his place with all the other Florida QB's who couldn't hack it in the NFL: Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Jesse Palmer, Doug Johnson, Shane Matthews, now Rex Grossman? Wonder what Chris Leak will do?

 

Much as I strongly dislike him, I actually think Leak will do at least fairly well.

All the other QBs you mention (except Spurrier) were products of the Spurrier fun-and-gun offense: drop back and chuck the ball downfield every play. That style simply doesn't work in the NFL and they couldn't adjust. Leak on the other hand, spent most of his time under Ron Zook, who runs more of style that fits an NFL system (even though he's not a good coach).

[XZero771679666304]

I still contend, the Bears will still the better team (even with Harris and Brown, but with those two, there is NO DOUBT who would be better) but I concede that the better team don't always win the Super Bowl.

 

The Colts deserve their due, but the Bears really, really helped them out tonight.

 

The Colts did their share of helping out the Bears too.

 

Not as much. The Colts were the better team tonight for sure, don't get me wrong. But with even a modicum of competent play calling in the first half, the Bears could have been in control.

 

That was really the difference, not the talent on the field, but the tactical aspect. The Colts helped the Bears by turning the ball over, and the Bears did the same. What the Colts didn't do was employ stupid and counter intuitive strategy. Even if the coaching staff had tried, Manning wouldn't have gone for it.

 

The Bears helped the Colts by being conservative when they should have been aggressive (no play action when everyone was expecting them to pound the ball), and aggressive when they should have pounded the ball (throwing on 2nd and 1 when they were starting to move the ball for the first time). Not using the weapons they should have (Clark) until the game was decided didn't help either.

 

Ron Turner's game plan was absolute garbage, and really hampered the entire team. The Chicago defense really was doing a pretty good job of keeping the Indy offense in check (even with it's uber-conservative plan) until it was simply too tired because it was constantly on the field. This was due as much to Turner as the Indy defense, which was good, but not as good as they were made to look.

 

I'm not going to say Chicago is the better team, because I don't believe that. I actually expected the Bears to lose. What I didn't expect was for the Bears to be the ones who beat the Bears, and to a large degree, that's what happened. I expected Peyton to pick the us apart, but he didn't. This game was totally winnable for the Bears.

 

The difference tonight? Brainpower. That, and not better talent, is what won the SB for Indy. But that's part of being the better team, I guess.

[Andy]

Sorry guys :(

 

I wanted you to win. My 2-9 record in playoff picks this season will be remembered in hushed tones by fans everywhere.

[CDBears1259]

Things I want to see:

 

1) Punishment. Don't let the Colts have easy yardage, don't let the receivers just run down the field and grab passes uncontested

 

2) Pressure. Do not allow Manning to throw when he wants to. Make him throw early, and get sacks.

 

3) Turnovers. Get the ball back, score on defense.

 

4) Ball control. Long drives, keep Peyton off the field, run the clock while putting up points. Do not turn the ball over.

 

Things I don't want to see:

 

1) Open Colts receivers catching easy passes

 

2) No turnovers by the Colts, or they win the turnover battle

 

3) Not representing what Bear football means: wimpy hits, bad fundamentals, just tackling instead of punishing........none of these are acceptable on this stage.

 

4) Colts finishing drives with touchdowns instead of field goals.

 

 

If we see the first set of factors, the Bears may have a chance. Play like that second set? Bears will have no chance.

 

CUT THROUGH, BEARS. CUT THROUGH :evil: BEAT THE ODDS.

 

Sadly, the Bears did EXACTLY the opposite of what you rightly said needed to happen. I can't believe that the Colts thoroughly outplayed, outmuscled and outeverythinged the Bears. It's almost like the teams switched unis, except that the Colts had been playing better D in the playoffs than they did in the regular season. The Bears certainly picked the worst time of the year to go into hibernation. Very disappointing showing by the Bears. Kudos to the Colts for capitalizing on the Bears piss poor showing.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Grossman is going to join his place with all the other Florida QB's who couldn't hack it in the NFL: Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Jesse Palmer, Doug Johnson, Shane Matthews, now Rex Grossman? Wonder what Chris Leak will do?

 

Yup, best to judge a quarterback after his first full season of play.

 

I put a question mark after Grossman's name.

 

Whoops, my bad.

 

Grossman has certainly done more good than those other QBs though.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

The only positive for me right now... 10 days until pitchers and catchers report.

 

Nice season Bears, title or not.

[Brian]

The only positive for me right now... 10 days until pitchers and catchers report.

 

Yeah they won't string us along this long, they'll let us down rather quickly.

[Chris]

Colts go through the playoffs giving up 82.8 rushing YPG and 16.3 PPG.

 

Pretty good.

[dew1679666265]

I still contend, the Bears will still the better team (even with Harris and Brown, but with those two, there is NO DOUBT who would be better) but I concede that the better team don't always win the Super Bowl.

 

The Colts deserve their due, but the Bears really, really helped them out tonight.

 

The Colts did their share of helping out the Bears too.

 

Not as much. The Colts were the better team tonight for sure, don't get me wrong. But with even a modicum of competent play calling in the first half, the Bears could have been in control.

 

That was really the difference, not the talent on the field, but the tactical aspect. The Colts helped the Bears by turning the ball over, and the Bears did the same. What the Colts didn't do was employ stupid and counter intuitive strategy. Even if the coaching staff had tried, Manning wouldn't have gone for it.

 

The Bears helped the Colts by being conservative when they should have been aggressive (no play action when everyone was expecting them to pound the ball), and aggressive when they should have pounded the ball (throwing on 2nd and 1 when they were starting to move the ball for the first time). Not using the weapons they should have (Clark) until the game was decided didn't help either.

 

Ron Turner's game plan was absolute garbage, and really hampered the entire team. The Chicago defense really was doing a pretty good job of keeping the Indy offense in check (even with it's uber-conservative plan) until it was simply too tired because it was constantly on the field. This was due as much to Turner as the Indy defense, which was good, but not as good as they were made to look.

 

I'm not going to say Chicago is the better team, because I don't believe that. I actually expected the Bears to lose. What I didn't expect was for the Bears to be the ones who beat the Bears, and to a large degree, that's what happened. I expected Peyton to pick the us apart, but he didn't. This game was totally winnable for the Bears.

 

The difference tonight? Brainpower. That, and not better talent, is what won the SB for Indy. But that's part of being the better team, I guess.

 

Valid points. I disagree with little of what you said, the Bears had opportunities but didn't capitalize. The Colts, on the other hand, did capitalize.