I saw a fair array of predictions about how last night's Super Bowl would turn out. But I didn't see any prediction that looked like that!
Better than half of the prognotications I saw or heard assumed a Colts' win. Clearly they were the 'favorite.'
Also, a lot of the predictions featured scores like the Saints' 31 points. Sometimes 31-ish was the winning score. Often it was the losing score!
According to those who follow and bet this sort of thing, this Super Bowl had the highest over-under for total final score in Super Bowl history. But few people were predicting a total of just 48 points.
And, most significantly of all, no one was envisioning a mere 17 points from the Indianapolis Colts.
Who saw dat coming?
In the days leading up to last night's game, with so many folks expecting a Colts' win, there was a lot of conversation about Peyton Manning's spot in the pantheon of all-time NFL QB greats. Once he gets his second ring, can we call him the greatest ever? That conversation was actually being had on TV and radio!
Instead, one wonders now if the old Peyton Manning conversation will be revived... The one about him and "the big game."
It hounded him in college, when he couldn't get Tennessee past Florida. And it hung over the first number of years of his NFL career. Then, three years ago, when the Colts won it all, he seemed to get that monkey off his back. He had finally won the big game -- although, honestly, he did not play particularly well in that Super Bowl win.
And then came yesterday. The Colts were favored. The sports writers and commentators were ready to chisel his face into football's Mt. Rushmore.
Perhaps before we begin entertaining whether he is the greatest NFL QB of all time, someone should settle whether he is even the greatest Colts QB of all time. Unitas won more big games. But, of course, that was a long, long time ago. And who saw dat?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
I'm Glad I'm Not -- Reflections on 2009
You remember from occasional posts during the season that one of my coping mechanisms for dealing with football disappointment is to think about other fans whose circumstances are worse. When being a Packer fan brings some pain, I take comfort in saying, "Well, at least I'm not a __________ fan!"
As I reflect back on the 2009 season, several teams come to mind to fill in that blank. We'll look at several of them after the Super Bowl. Leading up to the Saints-Colts tilt, however, we need to consider at least one...
I'm glad I'm not a Bears fan.
As the Colts return to the Big Game for the second time in four years, how is that not a bitter taste for Bears fans this Sunday?
In Super Bowl XLI, the Bears lost to the Colts 29-17. You remember the game: Tony Dungy vs. Lovie Smith, and all the talk about the first black head coach to win a Super Bowl. That wasn't that long ago that the Bears came so close. And now they are so far!
The Colts have remained competitive throughout those years between winning one Super Bowl and playing in another. The Bears, meanwhile, have gone from losing the Super Bowl to being also-rans in their own division. Heck, the only Bears talk during this Super Bowl lead-up has been about the old '85 team and their revisiting the Super Bowl Shuffle!
Chicago fans thought this was going to be the year for them to go back to the Big Game. You remember that, once the Jay Cutler trade went down, they thought they'd stamped their ticket to Miami.
What a joke!
Instead, while the Colts return to play for another Lombardi Trophy, the Bears have been mired down in coaching staff interviews and overhauls, reevaluating what they've got, and wondering if, in 2010, they'll be able to wake up from the Jay Cutler nightmare of 2009.
And so, as we prepare to watch the Colts and Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, I'm glad I'm not a Bears fan.
As I reflect back on the 2009 season, several teams come to mind to fill in that blank. We'll look at several of them after the Super Bowl. Leading up to the Saints-Colts tilt, however, we need to consider at least one...
I'm glad I'm not a Bears fan.
As the Colts return to the Big Game for the second time in four years, how is that not a bitter taste for Bears fans this Sunday?
In Super Bowl XLI, the Bears lost to the Colts 29-17. You remember the game: Tony Dungy vs. Lovie Smith, and all the talk about the first black head coach to win a Super Bowl. That wasn't that long ago that the Bears came so close. And now they are so far!
The Colts have remained competitive throughout those years between winning one Super Bowl and playing in another. The Bears, meanwhile, have gone from losing the Super Bowl to being also-rans in their own division. Heck, the only Bears talk during this Super Bowl lead-up has been about the old '85 team and their revisiting the Super Bowl Shuffle!
Chicago fans thought this was going to be the year for them to go back to the Big Game. You remember that, once the Jay Cutler trade went down, they thought they'd stamped their ticket to Miami.
What a joke!
Instead, while the Colts return to play for another Lombardi Trophy, the Bears have been mired down in coaching staff interviews and overhauls, reevaluating what they've got, and wondering if, in 2010, they'll be able to wake up from the Jay Cutler nightmare of 2009.
And so, as we prepare to watch the Colts and Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, I'm glad I'm not a Bears fan.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Match-Up We've All Been Waiting For
This is one of those rare seasons in which things played out according to design. While recent Super Bowls have featured an upstart or two -- some wild card team that got hot at the right time and plowed through three road victories to get to the Big Game -- this year's match-up is just what it was supposed to be.
The NFC's #1 seed faces the AFC's #1 seed. The two teams that were flirting with perfect seasons all the way into December are the two teams still standing at the end of January.
And so Super Bowl XLIV is exactly what we've all been waiting for, right? It's just what we expected. It was in the stars.
Except for this... Whatever happened to "defense wins championships"?
That truism has been NFL orthodoxy for years, and most years it is an arguable position. But this year, the Jets, Ravens, Cowboys, Vikings, Chargers, and Packers are all sitting at home on Super Bowl Sunday.
When you think of the Jets, you think of Ryan's amazing defensive schemes. When you think of the Ravens, you think of Ray Lewis. The Vikings had Jared Allen and the Williams boys. The Packers had the Defensive Player of the Year, Dom Capers, and one of the top-ranked defenses in the league.
But it's the Colts and Saints meeting in Miami this Sunday. And when you think of the Colts and the Saints, what do you think of? Offense! High-scoring, explosive offenses led by two of the game's most prolific passers. No one is debating which defense will be able to shut down the other team. All the speculation is about which offense will be able to outscore the other. Indeed, the only attention being paid to the defensive side of the ball at all in the week leading up to the Super Bowl is the interest in Dwight Freeney's ankle.
So it's the match-up we've been waiting for -- the top two seeds, the two best teams -- except that, no matter which team wins, it seems that offense wins championships this year.
The NFC's #1 seed faces the AFC's #1 seed. The two teams that were flirting with perfect seasons all the way into December are the two teams still standing at the end of January.
And so Super Bowl XLIV is exactly what we've all been waiting for, right? It's just what we expected. It was in the stars.
Except for this... Whatever happened to "defense wins championships"?
That truism has been NFL orthodoxy for years, and most years it is an arguable position. But this year, the Jets, Ravens, Cowboys, Vikings, Chargers, and Packers are all sitting at home on Super Bowl Sunday.
When you think of the Jets, you think of Ryan's amazing defensive schemes. When you think of the Ravens, you think of Ray Lewis. The Vikings had Jared Allen and the Williams boys. The Packers had the Defensive Player of the Year, Dom Capers, and one of the top-ranked defenses in the league.
But it's the Colts and Saints meeting in Miami this Sunday. And when you think of the Colts and the Saints, what do you think of? Offense! High-scoring, explosive offenses led by two of the game's most prolific passers. No one is debating which defense will be able to shut down the other team. All the speculation is about which offense will be able to outscore the other. Indeed, the only attention being paid to the defensive side of the ball at all in the week leading up to the Super Bowl is the interest in Dwight Freeney's ankle.
So it's the match-up we've been waiting for -- the top two seeds, the two best teams -- except that, no matter which team wins, it seems that offense wins championships this year.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Vikings, Saints, and Mixed Emotions
It has been more than a week since that remarkable NFC Championship game in New Orleans, and I am still mixed about it. Don't get me wrong -- the end result was just what I wanted. But the Favre element has me feeling conflicted.
Before we turn to my own mixed emotions, though, let's savor for a moment the emotions of Viking fans. Having lived through some pretty devastating losses as a Cleveland fan (multiple Browns losses to the Broncos, Michael Jordan's shot over Craig Ehlo, and the two modern-era Indians World Series performances), plus the assorted heartbreaks experienced as a Packers fan, I have a little sense for what the folks in Minnesota went through on Sunday.
There was very little doubt that the Vikings were the better team on the field that day. Their defense had largely stifled the vaunted Saints offense, and their offense was gaining ground very effectively against the New Orleans defense. The only thing that really stopped the Viking offense, in fact, was the Viking offense.
Fumbles. An unbelievable, embarrassing epidemic of fumbles. Now the Saints have a reputation for takeaways, and so they may deserve some credit. But any impartial observer -- and certainly any Minnesota fan -- recognized that the Vikings gave that game away.
Still, heading down to the final moments of the game, Minnesota had the ball and the score was tied. In spite of their horrific ball security, and in spite of playing on the road in a notoriously loud dome, the Vikings were still in position to win the game. Indeed, they were literally in position to win the game, situated just inside Ryan Longwell's range with first down and not much time left on the clock.
A first-down run went nowhere. Nothing lost, nothing gained. Fine. Same story on second down.
What to do on third down? It was easy to imagine a play-action fake, with Peterson running into the line pretending to have the ball, while Favre hits Harvin or Rice straking down the field for a nail-in-the-coffin gain down inside the Saints ten-yard-line.
A 12th man in the Minnesota huddle, however, eliminated the play-action fake. Now the Vikings were -- unthinkably -- backed up outside Longwell's range, and they had to pass it.
Favre rolled right -- a good call. He had lots of field in front of him, and he had only a few yards he needed to gain in order to give Longwell a decent shot to win the game. But he threw it. Across his body. Late. Into the middle of the field.
Ah, the familliar "bad Brett." Alas, we knew him well.
Favre never touched the ball again. Indeed, perhaps never will touch the ball again in an NFL game. And that is where the mixed feelings come in for me. I hated to see him in a Viking uniform this year, but I didn't begrudge him the move personally, for I feel that he was forced out of Green Bay. I rooted against him all year because of his team, but still I hate the thought of his final pass being an intereception. A memorable, game-killing, Super Bowl squashing interception.
It was a remarkable game. And it will take a long, long time for Viking fans -- and Favre himself -- to get over it.
Before we turn to my own mixed emotions, though, let's savor for a moment the emotions of Viking fans. Having lived through some pretty devastating losses as a Cleveland fan (multiple Browns losses to the Broncos, Michael Jordan's shot over Craig Ehlo, and the two modern-era Indians World Series performances), plus the assorted heartbreaks experienced as a Packers fan, I have a little sense for what the folks in Minnesota went through on Sunday.
There was very little doubt that the Vikings were the better team on the field that day. Their defense had largely stifled the vaunted Saints offense, and their offense was gaining ground very effectively against the New Orleans defense. The only thing that really stopped the Viking offense, in fact, was the Viking offense.
Fumbles. An unbelievable, embarrassing epidemic of fumbles. Now the Saints have a reputation for takeaways, and so they may deserve some credit. But any impartial observer -- and certainly any Minnesota fan -- recognized that the Vikings gave that game away.
Still, heading down to the final moments of the game, Minnesota had the ball and the score was tied. In spite of their horrific ball security, and in spite of playing on the road in a notoriously loud dome, the Vikings were still in position to win the game. Indeed, they were literally in position to win the game, situated just inside Ryan Longwell's range with first down and not much time left on the clock.
A first-down run went nowhere. Nothing lost, nothing gained. Fine. Same story on second down.
What to do on third down? It was easy to imagine a play-action fake, with Peterson running into the line pretending to have the ball, while Favre hits Harvin or Rice straking down the field for a nail-in-the-coffin gain down inside the Saints ten-yard-line.
A 12th man in the Minnesota huddle, however, eliminated the play-action fake. Now the Vikings were -- unthinkably -- backed up outside Longwell's range, and they had to pass it.
Favre rolled right -- a good call. He had lots of field in front of him, and he had only a few yards he needed to gain in order to give Longwell a decent shot to win the game. But he threw it. Across his body. Late. Into the middle of the field.
Ah, the familliar "bad Brett." Alas, we knew him well.
Favre never touched the ball again. Indeed, perhaps never will touch the ball again in an NFL game. And that is where the mixed feelings come in for me. I hated to see him in a Viking uniform this year, but I didn't begrudge him the move personally, for I feel that he was forced out of Green Bay. I rooted against him all year because of his team, but still I hate the thought of his final pass being an intereception. A memorable, game-killing, Super Bowl squashing interception.
It was a remarkable game. And it will take a long, long time for Viking fans -- and Favre himself -- to get over it.
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