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A little different topic and a little lighter subject-who do you think will provide the best quotes at media day? I could see this as one of the more boring media days, as neither team has too many big talkers. Does anybody agree?

Also be careful blitzing Manning too much...he will make you pay. fixed What about Pittsburgh and San Diego last year? They blitzed him quite effectively. If you can conceal the blitzes well, (Which we don't do) and if you can get pressure on him (which doesn't always happen with our blitzes) then there is nothing wrong with blitzing him. In fact, we might have to end up blitzing him. If you cannot get pressure from the front 4, he'll pick your cover 2 apart. You can't sit in a zone against Manning. Pittsburgh and San Diego are both 3-4 defenses. 3-4 defenses have confused the offensive line in the past (see also the Dallas game from this year). The offensive line has never had much of a problem picking up blitzes from even the best 4-3 teams. It's a big thing in Indy before every game-the inevitable question, are they a 4-3 or a 3-4? I'm not saying the offensive line is perfect, but how an offense blocks a 4-3 and a 3-4 is a little different, and all the defenses the Colts have ever had trouble against are 3-4's. This is very true. The problems that Peyton has had in the past have all come from teams that run 3-4 defenses. I'm very afraid he'll pick our defense apart. Of course, I was afraid Drew Brees would, too. So we shall see, we shall see. We'll need another superhuman effort in this one. Don't the Jags run a 4-3 defense? Manning had a hard time with them. Jacksonville tends to run a 3-3-5 against the Colts, but that is probably a pretty good comparison to the Bears (when Jax is totally healthy). They tackle well, and they stop the run well. Manning's never had a problem with pressure against them, it's always been about finding receivers-and the game at Jax his receivers dropped I think 8 passes that day. :roll: That is very rolleyes worthy, bro. The Colts always have problems with the Jags, when was the last time they've scored more than 24 against them? EDIT: In the last 3 years he's scored: 17, 21, 26, 10, 24, 24 against the Jags Very impressive considering the tear he's been on. They've really hedged him in. Yes, the Jags have always held the Colts below their average, but the difference between those games and the game in Jax where there were 8 dropped passes is that most of those other games were won by the Colts. 3 or 4 times, they could have scored 30 if they had actually wanted to, but rather just started running the ball because they were winning the game. In Jax, they scored only 17 I think, and they got blown out-that's why I referenced that game in particular. The key to what the Jags do against the Colts is stopping the run with 3 defensive lineman (with Stroud and Henderson, that's not hard to do), which allows them to drop 7 or 8 into coverage while still getting decent pressure. If the Bears can do that, they will be in good shape. I personally don't think your D-line is that good with Harris out, but if it is they could easily hold the Colts down.

bowden fleeced both the rangers (for soriano...was he the gm then?) and the reds (for lopez and kearns). his team was operating with a significantly lower payroll than the cubs (and playing in a tougher division), and the nats won more games than the cubs. i'd probably rather have hendry than bowden, but it's not unthinkable that someone would rank him ahead of hendry. i don't know why hendry gets any kind of credit from anyone. since he's taken over the losses have increased each year (despite an increasing payroll) and the farm system has gone in the toilet. so he traded for ramirez and lee...what's that gotten him? While I'm going to try to stay out of the reasons for credit/blame for Hendry, the fact that the losses have increased each year under his tenure is just not correct. They increased for 2 years, and then dropped the next 2 years back to the level they were before Hendry. If they increase significantly next year, some of last year can be forgiven (he still didn't build a contending team, but it is possible that the injuries took the team from a .500 team to a terrible team). If the wins don't get the Cubs past the .500 mark this year, then Hendry just becomes someone who got the team to around .500-which is an improvement over the previous regime, but still not good enough to really make a difference.

BTW-one more interesting tidbit that's circulating today. The Colts have become the 5th team in postseason history to beat the #1 and #2 scoring defenses in the same postseason. If they beat the Bears, they will become the 1st team in history to beat #1, #2, and #3 in the same postseason.

Manning's actually one of the better QB's in the league under pressure due to his quick release and timing. Of course if you can consistently pressure him, it's going to be a much harder day for him, just like it will be for every QB. One thing that Manning has done a lot better this year though is throw on the run. Two great examples of this were the NYG and NE regular season games. Both teams had Manning running a decent amount (especially since the running attack hadn't fully gelled then) and Manning was making much better passes while on the move then ever before. I still do agree though on bringing pressure against Manning. At least you have a chance at flustering him then-sit back in the zone, and the Colts will play ball control up and down the field.

Also be careful blitzing Manning too much...he will make you pay. fixed What about Pittsburgh and San Diego last year? They blitzed him quite effectively. If you can conceal the blitzes well, (Which we don't do) and if you can get pressure on him (which doesn't always happen with our blitzes) then there is nothing wrong with blitzing him. In fact, we might have to end up blitzing him. If you cannot get pressure from the front 4, he'll pick your cover 2 apart. You can't sit in a zone against Manning. Pittsburgh and San Diego are both 3-4 defenses. 3-4 defenses have confused the offensive line in the past (see also the Dallas game from this year). The offensive line has never had much of a problem picking up blitzes from even the best 4-3 teams. It's a big thing in Indy before every game-the inevitable question, are they a 4-3 or a 3-4? I'm not saying the offensive line is perfect, but how an offense blocks a 4-3 and a 3-4 is a little different, and all the defenses the Colts have ever had trouble against are 3-4's. This is very true. The problems that Peyton has had in the past have all come from teams that run 3-4 defenses. I'm very afraid he'll pick our defense apart. Of course, I was afraid Drew Brees would, too. So we shall see, we shall see. We'll need another superhuman effort in this one. Don't the Jags run a 4-3 defense? Manning had a hard time with them. Jacksonville tends to run a 3-3-5 against the Colts, but that is probably a pretty good comparison to the Bears (when Jax is totally healthy). They tackle well, and they stop the run well. Manning's never had a problem with pressure against them, it's always been about finding receivers-and the game at Jax his receivers dropped I think 8 passes that day.

Also be careful blitzing Manning too much...he will make you pay. fixed What about Pittsburgh and San Diego last year? They blitzed him quite effectively. If you can conceal the blitzes well, (Which we don't do) and if you can get pressure on him (which doesn't always happen with our blitzes) then there is nothing wrong with blitzing him. In fact, we might have to end up blitzing him. If you cannot get pressure from the front 4, he'll pick your cover 2 apart. You can't sit in a zone against Manning. Pittsburgh and San Diego are both 3-4 defenses. 3-4 defenses have confused the offensive line in the past (see also the Dallas game from this year). The offensive line has never had much of a problem picking up blitzes from even the best 4-3 teams. It's a big thing in Indy before every game-the inevitable question, are they a 4-3 or a 3-4? I'm not saying the offensive line is perfect, but how an offense blocks a 4-3 and a 3-4 is a little different, and all the defenses the Colts have ever had trouble against are 3-4's.

It is interesting-of course, it's hard to differentiate homefield from grass-especially since the Colts only played 3 games on turf that were not their home field. Miami is also said to have the best grass field in the league, and with the SB that grass will be the most like turf that it ever is going to get.

I've heard nothing yet on which sprain it is-I'll post as soon as I know, because you're certainly right in that it could possibly make a very big difference in the game.

The guy did put up the greatest 3rd receiver season in the history of the NFL and is considered the fastest receiver on the team-I don't know if I'd go that far to call him a scrub. He is a loss though that the Colts have been prepared for, and it just means that the Colts go 2 tight ends more often then usual, and put Wayne in the slot a little more than usual. The Colts will run just a few different formations. If Moorehead is in the game, he will line up on the outside and Wayne in the slot. Sometimes they line up Clark in the slot and Wayne on the outside, and other times they will just have the traditional 2 tight end look. Only on short yardage situations will you see the Colts really ever go to a fullback, and that of course is now Klecko.

It's both. It was an exceptionally bad game for the kick coverage, but it still is not good on a consistent basis. I'd expect the Bears to get one past the 50, and most of their returns will go to between the 30-40. That will certainly help the Bears if the Colts players cannot return to how they were handling kickoffs in both the Chiefs and Ravens games.

I don't think that's true at all, especially on this board, where fans tend to be more informed than the average fan. From what I've seen, the Bears have the best defense in the league, but a below-average quarterback and an offensive line that isn't always good enough to keep pressure off him - which is when he really struggles. I think the Colts will win because I think they're a bad matchup for the Bears - they're the best passing team in the league, and that's where the Bears can be beat. I hope for the Bears' sake that they don't buy into the "let's just run the ball all game like Jacksonville did" bull. This isn't 1994-95 Nebraska versus Baylor, these are two really good NFL teams playing in the Super Bowl. I'd like for the Super Bowl to be competitive, especially since I won't be able to watch until the second half. Actually, New Orleans was the best passing team in the league, and it didn't help them much. In passing yards, yes, but Indy is certainly the more efficient passing team. The game was played in weather not conducive to throwing the ball a lot, and the Saints were missing Joe Horn, who's either their best or second-best receiving threat. The Colts have all their receivers healthy and unless there's a front near south Florida, the weather shouldn't slow down the Colts' passing attack. I thought Stokely was out for the year. He is, but he only played in 4 games all year, and in 3 of those he got hurt in the middle of it, so the Colts haven't even ever really tried to run their offense with him this year.

I don't think that's true at all, especially on this board, where fans tend to be more informed than the average fan. From what I've seen, the Bears have the best defense in the league, but a below-average quarterback and an offensive line that isn't always good enough to keep pressure off him - which is when he really struggles. I think the Colts will win because I think they're a bad matchup for the Bears - they're the best passing team in the league, and that's where the Bears can be beat. I hope for the Bears' sake that they don't buy into the "let's just run the ball all game like Jacksonville did" bull. This isn't 1994-95 Nebraska versus Baylor, these are two really good NFL teams playing in the Super Bowl. I'd like for the Super Bowl to be competitive, especially since I won't be able to watch until the second half. Actually, New Orleans was the best passing team in the league, and it didn't help them much. In passing yards, yes, but Indy is certainly the more efficient passing team. The game was played in weather not conducive to throwing the ball a lot, and the Saints were missing Joe Horn, who's either their best or second-best receiving threat. The Colts have all their receivers healthy and unless there's a front near south Florida, the weather shouldn't slow down the Colts' passing attack. Well, I wouldn't say all our recievers healthy (Stokely is out for the year, and Proehl hasn't played in weeks), but I get your point that the main threats for the Colts are still there. Harrison, Wayne, Clark, and Addai, with Moorehead, Utecht, and Fletcher thrown in. The Colts were definitely the more efficient passing team all year, while the Saints were unbelievable on the big plays. Unfortunately, big plays cannot develop if the QB doesn't get time, and Chicago did a very good job of forcing the ball out of the hand of Brees before he was ready. The Colts are much more of an intermediate passing team than a deep passing team though, and are more prepared for pressure.

The huge key in the game is which Colts defense shows up. That one from the regular season, or the one from the playoffs? The Colts are about as balanced as the Bears. The Bears are a below average to average offense with a great defense, and the Colts are a great offense with a below average to average defense. Both special teams do what their teams need them to (the Bears, with their poorer offense need more special teams plays out of their returners, while the Colts need primarily a great kicker and punter, which they have). The key question then becomes which maligned unit shows up more. Does the Colts defense remain as they have been, or does the Bears offense have a big day? Whichever unit wins that battle should probably win the game.

Also be careful blitzing Manning too much...he can make you pay. The Bears are not a blitzing team. They haven't been all year. They get the majority of the pressure from their front four, while Briggs, Urlacher, and Hillenmeyer drop back into their coverages. Occasionally you'll see Briggs or Urlacher come on a blitz, but it's pretty rare. They do show blitz quite often and back off into coverage though. And yes, the problem with blitzing the Colts is, if you don't get to Manning, he will make you pay because there is now an open spot somewhere on the field. How much has Lovie Smith changed his defense from Dungy's defense? Aren't they still basically the same, just the Bears have much better athletes and execution (except for the Colts playoffs :D ). I've heard all this, and this sounds exactly like the Colts. So-which QB gets the advantage by having two weeks to prepare for a defense that their head coach knows very, very well?

the national media hates the colts! Regardless, it's unprecedented as far as NFL talk is concerned, I wasn't really comparing them to college football, where the discussion often centers around a whole lot more than the game (ie, polls/BCS controversy, etc) It's unprecedented as far as NFL talk goes? What about the Patriots first Super Bowl (first thing I thought of)? I thought that the Patriots in 2001 were disrespected a lot more than the Bears are right now. Nobody even gave them a chance to be close in that game, while I've heard praise for the Bears (even from the people who are not picking them to win) from at least a couple national outlets just yesterday. Even if you think the Bears disrespect measures up to that Patriots disrespect, this sort of talk is certainly not "unprecedented as far as NFL talk is concerned".

the national media hates the colts! Seriously, what's with the trolling? You're acting more and more like an Eagles fan every day. The national media has unloaded almost an unprecedented level of hate on the Bears this postseason. To pretend otherwise, or that Bears fans are paranoid for thinking this is just complete ignorance of the facts. The Bears aren't even the most criticized team to play for a title in 2007 - the Florida Gators take that honor, and they take it miles ahead of the Bears. I would definitely agree with that sentiment.

The D-Line by itself might be able to get pressure on Manning occasionally, but not often. The O-line for the Colts is usually very solid, especially in pass blocking. I'm really not sure how to stop Manning with a 4-3 defense. I've seen it done with a 3-4 before, but never even close to consistently with a 4-3. The Eagles have tried both ways against Manning-one game they blitzed him constantly, and he torched them. This year they went into nickle the whole game, and the Colts just ran the ball every play. If the Bears play soft, the Colts will just throw their 10-12 yard outs every play. I think the Bears will have to try to mix it up in this game, and throw a huge number of different looks at the Colts. While they may not confuse Manning, just the time figuring them out may slow him down, and possibly allow the Bears to get out to a lead. The Colts have been a 2nd half team all year, so it wouldn't surprise me to see the Bears defense dominate a little bit early.

I'm all for running more than we pass, and I think our play action can be really effective in this game, but Rex is going to have to make some plays too. The Colts have really zoned in on the run the last few weeks, and I think we can take advantage of that in the passing game. A good balance, with a few more runs than passes is the way to attack the Colts now. I actually think a key for the Bears might be establishing the pass early. No team in the playoffs have really been able to pass consistently in the playoffs, which has allowed the Colts to load up against the run. Some passes early by Grossman might loosen up that Colts defense, because they will be expecting the Bears to try to establish the run early.

I actually was reading on my Colts board, and was just coming here to post this-shame on me for thinking I could get a scoop on the Bears before a Bears fan :D . Respect my authoritay! :D Hopefully the Colts can get their own good news soon, and the Nick Harper ankle injury is a basketball sprain and not a high ankle sprain. He has been so good this season flying under the radar-no team wants to throw at him much. An interesting stat BTW is that the Colts have not allowed a 100 yard receiver all season. It doesn't mean much for the game, but I love those little tidbits. To be fair that could be because they allowed a 100 yard rusher in every game this season, and teams ran on them more than threw. That's true, but not every team did that. Many teams still threw 30 or 35 passes (for example, Brunell threw 37 times, Brady threw 35 in the regular season, 34 more in the playoff game, Palmer threw 28 times, Leftwich threw 28 times, and a couple others threw at least 28 passes in a game), and with some of the great receivers that are in this league one would think that at least one of them would have gotten 100 yards (admittedly also, the Colts avoided some of the teams with great receivers, but they did have some on their schedule as well).

I actually was reading on my Colts board, and was just coming here to post this-shame on me for thinking I could get a scoop on the Bears before a Bears fan :D . Respect my authoritay! :D Hopefully the Colts can get their own good news soon, and the Nick Harper ankle injury is a basketball sprain and not a high ankle sprain. He has been so good this season flying under the radar-no team wants to throw at him much. An interesting stat BTW is that the Colts have not allowed a 100 yard receiver all season. It doesn't mean much for the game, but I love those little tidbits.

I actually was reading on my Colts board, and was just coming here to post this-shame on me for thinking I could get a scoop on the Bears before a Bears fan :D .

I think either style coach can have success. Coaching isn't about yelling at or being buddy-buddy with players, it's about getting the most out of players, and either style can do that. The differences between Lovie and Dusty (other than talent level of the team) are so great. Lovie has shown no reluctance to bench players while they are not performing, yet knows when to stick by a guy (Grossman). Lovie's team plays hard. Lovie's team doesn't make many fundamental mistakes. Lovie puts guys in position to have success. Dusty was a disaster. I assume Lovie is more aggressive outside of the game, like practice & all. While Dusty is nowhere. I assume at least a couple, if not several of the Bears assistant coaches are fiery and the type to ream people out. As far as the running games go, the Chiefs and Ravens didn't run it as much because all their runs were getting stuffed at the line, plus they had fallen behind the Colts by more than a TD. The Bears will have to be unpredictable on offense to keep the Colts from just rushing at the RB like he was Grossman on a passing down. That's exactly right. Teams like KC didn't have a very small number of rushing attempts because they abandoned the run too soon, but rather because it was going nowhere. Remember, they didn't get a first down until the 3rd quarter, so it's not like they had many plays. Let's look at their first few possessions of the game: 1st possession 1st down-LJ for 0 2nd down-LJ for 2 3rd down-Green pass incomplete Seems right here? They tried to run it down the Colts throat, and on 3rd and 8 they were forced to pass. 2nd possession 1st down-Pass to Gonzlalez for 4 2nd down-LJ for 1 3rd and 5-Pass incomplete You can question their first down pass, but it gained more yardage than any of their 3 runs have so far, and 3rd and 5 it seemed like they had to pass. 3rd possession 1st down-LJ for 0 2nd down-LJ for 5 3rd and 5-Sack and fumble, recovered by KC Same thing here-they tried running it twice, and still were in a non 3rd and short type situation, and the passing down went for the sack. A draw might have worked once or twice against the Colts like the Patriots game, but it won't work all day in this type of situation. 4th possession (from the 9 after the INT by Law) 1st down-LJ for 6 2nd down-LJ for 1 3rd down-this is where Green trips and loses 3-it's hard to tell how their play would have worked from the 2 because it never started-they were moderately successful running the ball on those two plays, but might have not gotten in with another run. This sort of pattern continues mostly throughout. Even in the 4th quarter, the Chiefs are still mixing in the run with the pass, but the run is not working at all, so they are starting to pass more and more. With less than 6 minutes to go, they finally have to abandon the run, and Green gets sacked 3 times on the drive with Mathis stripping the ball from Green on the last one (which is 2 forced fumbles by Mathis already just in the playoffs with the Baltimore game the next week). The teams didn't abandon the run on any drive-they just couldn't run the ball several times on any drive (which is what is needed to get to 30 carries) because every time teams would run the ball more than once or twice, they would find themselves in a 3rd and long situation. Will that happen with the Bears? I'm not sure. I feel like the same pattern will develop to that of the NE game though. Jones/Benson will break some 20 yard runs, and will then get stopped for little gain on the next run, which will mean that at some point Grossman will simply have to beat the Colts on the slants and crossing routes, and probably not the deep ball consistently.

I really like that shirt especially-if the Colts win, I may have to try to buy one of those.

Oh thank god. Assume that Colts will wear white & white? Yeah, the Colts will wear their white uniforms-although I'd love to see all the casual fans watching the Super Bowl who would have no idea what was really going on if the Colts wore their blues :D