So, my first thought yesterday was “hey, where is everyone… don’t they know there is a game on?”. Okay, so I wasn’t actually AT the Super Bowl, but all the same, here are my views on the game, from my vantage-point, seated on a couch in CJ’s apartment.

 1.) The big question on all the sports shows today has been “Did Rex Grossman lose the game for the Bears, or was it the defense?”. the answer to that question is yes. The Bears defense proved utterly incapable of getting the Colts off the field by any means other than a turnover, and while they did end up forcing three, the offense gave just as many back, often on the very next play.

Despite all this, however, Grossman had the ball with a five point deficit to overcome, and he just could not handle the pressure. He looked like a QB that had no business being in a game of that magnitude, and even worse, he seemed to know it. Fumbling the snap, tripping over his own feet, throwing lazy lob passes… he simply did not play as if a World Championship was on the line. Chalk some of that up to being essentially a rookie, but man, he did not acquit himself well.

2.) One of the reasons the Bears D couldn’t get the Colts off the field was that the running game was absolutely unstoppable. And the reason for that is that the Indianapolis Colts have the best offensive line in football as a unit. That distinction is important, since there are individual linemen better than players on the Colts line (except for Jeff Saturday, who is the best center in the league), but there are no five guys in football that play better as a unit than the Colts o-line… and that unit imposed their will upon the Bears defense all day. Manning wasn’t even sacked until the fourth quarter! The RBs ran for nearly 200 yards!

This was far from an abberation, too. All playoffs long, indeed all SEASON long, the Colts O-line dictated the line of scrimmage to the defense. This is an area of the field that is always underappreciated, so I just wanted to give the big guys in the trenches the love that they deserve. Kudos fellas.

3.) Dominic Rhodes is not only my Super Bowl MVP, but he is my Colts playoffs MVP. Simply put, the Colts would not have been there had it not been for the stellar play of Rhodes. Joseph Addai is unquestionably the future of the Colts at running back, but it was fitting for a guy who had always done whatever the team needed him to do to take his team to the promised land.

I’m not sure of his contract status, but I would not be suprised to see him starting somewhere else next season….the man deserves to be a starter somewhere. Maybe taking hand-offs from the other Manning? perhaps.

4.) I spoke of the turnovers earlier, but man, that was one sloppy game. I expected turnovers, but turnovers followed by giving the ball right back? That I didn’t expect to see once, let alone twice in one game. Execution was certainly at a premium for both teams early on.

5.) an underlying theme of this Super Bowl win for the Colts has to be ‘vindication’ for a lot of people. Everyone said that Tony Dungy was “The guy who can get you close”. No more.

Peyton Manning was “the best QB to never win a Super Bowl.” or “The guy who can’t win a big game”. No more.

Bill Polian built Super Bowl participants, but not Super Bowl champions. No more.

There really are a lot of people you can feel good for in this game, even if you can’t stand Peyton Manning. 

6.) Can’t talk about the SuperBowl without talking about the stuff that comes with it. The commercials, the pregame, the halftime show… The Pregame was. um. weird. I actually like the Cirque de Soleil, I’ve watched it on Bravo a few times (never live), but that just seemed out of place at the game, really.

 Prince, on the other hand, put on a really good show. the pyro, the stage-set, the FAMU marching band… all of it combined to make a  perfect “glitzy” show for the Super Bowl. Plus, he looked darn happy to be there, even in the pouring rain. What can we say, the man loves to perform.

 The commercials were a disappointment to me. Nothing really stood out to me as being that memorable (a bit of that might have been due to the fact that I actually had a rooting interest in the game), and a lot of it was just flat bad. I have to say that first Doritos commercial was at least funny. the second one, though? creeeeeepy.

 All in all, it was a really good game from my perspective, of course because my team won. Not the greatest Super Bowl ever, but pretty darn entertaining, and it ended in the best possible way for us Colts fans. Bring on next season!