It's rare that the team with both the best defense and the best running game would be an underdog, especially inasmuch as they are playing an opponent that has a history of choking in big games. It is especially rare for that team to be a 7 point underdog. Nonetheless, these are the circumstances the Bears will face as they take the field in Miami today. And naturally, taking a cue from the Patriots of recent years, the Bears are playing that disrespect element up just as much as possible. The question is, will it matter?
My head says no. My head says that Peyton Manning has climbed the mountain, that he has too many weapons, and that he will have so many weapons at his disposal that he will neutralize the aggressiveness of the Bears' D. Furthermore, the Bears got pasted whenever they ran up against even middle-shelf AFC competition. There is a reason why Vegas has given the game a relatively wide line, right? Surely, the smart line of thinking goes, the Colts are going to win, but the question is by how much.
Then there is my gut. My gut may not be smart, but it is intuitive. And my gut says that the Colts have crested, the Bears will come out gnashing their teeth, and Peytom Manning will find a way to steal defeat from the jaws of victory. The supposedly rejuvenated Colts D were a huge part of why the Pats scored 34 points in the AFC championship, and the Bears come forward with a two-headed thunder and more thunder running combo that will wear the Colts down. Of course the Bears have Rex Grossman, but while Grossman is no superstar, it is my firm belief that he can manage a game well enough to keep the Bears in the contest. Grossman does not need to be perfect, and knowing as much should allow him to be good.
So the question becomes the Adam Vinatieri factor: Not what sort of difference the greatest kicker of all time will make, so much as whether or not the game will come down to his pressure-tempered right leg. As Patriots fan I really do not want to think of that prospect. But on this question my head and my guts are working in tandem. My head says that the odds of Vinatieri having yet another shot at a Super Bowl winning kick are too improbable. And my guts say that the Bears are going to keep in just out of range in the end.
Maybe it's wishful thinking. maybe it is post-AFC Championship sour grapes. Maybe it is just the matter of me wanting to be contrarian. Whatever the motivation, I see it ending Bears 34-Colts 30.
11 comments:
Don't forget the karma factor: There's a whole generation of mid-Atlantic football fans who still can't say the name of Baltimore's former team without spitting and making hex signs....
Ah yes, dear sir: The tartness of thy face sours ripe grapes.
Are not thou beloved Patriots surely sucking on the teats of bitterness? Does not Tom and Bill curse the name "Peyton"?
Ah, yes, dost thou have a pregame prediction thyself, dear secret agent chet, or ist thou an asshole without a team to backeth?
Mine team Patriots hath still won three of the past six Super Bowls, lest thine capacity to count fall short, thine fuckhole.
But if thou dost root for a better team, please, do let thine team be known, otherwise don't report after the fact under a pseudonym, lest thee be accused of asscrackishness.
If simple math confuseth thine, and I suspect that such simple figueres do thou confuseth, one can put one foot in front of thine other and imagineth that it be thine favorite team, and if it not be the team that drinkeneth from the Kraftian trough, than you root for a team that sucketh the ass.
Having not braven a prediction prior to the Bowl of the Super, one can thus assumeth that you are the lowest sort of fan, he or she who pilesh on, devoid of loyalties but rather running of the front, in which case we haveth a jersey of ARod for thine.
So, good for you, the rarest of fan, that who supporteth the Colt of Indy. Thou hast not let thine presence be known prior to the victory. Hail thee, proud frontrunner, and know that the real fan of sport finds you to be a pussyish, loathsome beast.
Having won three of the most Super of Bowls, we suck not teats of bitterness but rather wonder for whom secret agents Chet or other doth root.
Not having made apublic stance, it is rather easy for the chettiest amongst us all to have run to the front.
dcat
Wow. Lighten up Francis. More to follow (have a class to go to).
The name's Francis Sawyer. But everybody calls me Psycho. Any you guys call me Francis, I'll kill ya.
Dang Dcat, why so bitter?! Why are you resorting to such adolescent attacks? Clearly, yanking your chain is remarkably easy (and fun I might add).
Walk it off. Be a man, not a sore loser. Afterall, like they say (to all losers, of which the pats are now most assuredly labeled) "there's always next year".
I believe it was the immortal Paul Brown who said "A winner never whines." There is always next year, Dcat my friend.
Let us hope that Mr. Brady does not get to overly comforatable with Gisele Bundchen. For if there is one thing I know, it is Patriot football should never be confused with a Victoria's Secret prime-time special, no matter what time it airs. These are the words of Special Agent Chet Desmond.
I'd just like to see the Pats use all of their salary cap room next year -- they left something like $10 million available this year, which seems to me to be the equivalent of challenging everyone in the bar to a fight with one hand tied behind your back.
As for Brady's dalliances with models of the "super" category, I'm of the whatever keeps him happy and off the streets mindset. Let's face it -- I bet Bengals fans wish their players spent more time dating starlets and less time behind bars.
As for Tony Romo, nice of you to join us -- I'm just pleased you didn't drop your keyboard.
dcat
Ha! Drop my keyboard! That's a good one. I'll have to write that one down--oops, dropped my pen. Butterfingers.
Tony Romo will be here all the week! Tip your waitstaff, and try the veal!
dcat
I wonder if this year's bengals will bring out Goodell's inner David Stern. I would not want to be the next Bungle to get in trouble with the law.
dcat
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