#1-WIN THIS GAME, GO TO HALL OF FAME: This is the 9th Super Bowl played in Miami. The winning quarterback of the 8 previous Super Bowls played in Miami have gone on to the Hall of Fame. No kidding. Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, Terry Bradshaw [twice], Joe Montana, Steve Young and John Elway all won Super Bowls in Miami....and all are in the Hall of Fame.
Well, Peyton Manning....who was the winning QB in this one....has a pretty darn good shot at making in 9 Miami Super Bowls won by a Hall of Fame QB.
#2-SPORTZ' PREDICTS: Colts 30-Bears 20. Super Bowls tend to be high scoring by nature...and despite the feeling that the Bears offense sucks, they did score the 2nd most points in the NFL this season.
A botched extra point attempt kept my Colts 30 prediction from happening. And I was just a field goal off of the Bears 20. Not bad.
#8-DOLPHINS STADIUM ON A NEW NETWORK: This is the 4th Super Bowl played in Dolphins Stadium [or whatever name it's been]....and the 4th different network to cover a Super Bowl. NBC did Super Bowl XXIII; ABC did Super Bowl XXIX; Fox did Super Bowl XXXIII; and now CBS is doing Super Bowl XLI.
CBS did a great job on this game. Phil Simms, as always, did a great job at analysing the game. Well, except for the part that the weather shouldn't play a factor....because it clearly did. But Simms had fun with it referencing his bad call during the telecast. Hard to believe that Jim Nantz...the voice of the Masters and March Madness...had never done a Super Bowl.
#9-AFC LOVES FEBRUARY: Since the Super Bowl has been played in February, the AFC is 4-0 in those games. The Patriots beat the Rams [in a Super Bowl that was pushed back into February due to postponment of Week 2 due to the attacks of 9/11], Panthers and Eagles and last year the Steelers beat the Seahawks.
Make that 5-0 now.
#10-THE LUCKY NUMBER 8: Starting QBs who wear the #8 are a combined 5-1 in the Super Bowl. Troy Aikman won 3 Super Bowls with the Cowboys; Trent Dilfer won with the Ravens; Steve Young won with the 49ers. However, last year #8 Matt Hasselbeck lost the Super Bowl. So...is this good news or bad news for Rex Grossman??
The #8 is now on a losing streak....having lost with Hasselbeck last year and Grossman this year.
#16-BEWARE OF THE DARK HORSE: In a game like this, sometimes someone that nobody planned for has a huge game and becomes the difference maker. Thisdates all the way back to Super Bowl I....when Max McGee [who spent the previous night partying in LA] of the Packers caught 7 passes. Weird, since he caught only FOUR all season long! Or the Redskins' Timmy Smith, who ran for a record 204 yards in Super Bowl XXII. Or Desmond Howard, who is known for twothings. His Heismantrophy and Super Bowl XXXI MVP. Or the Cowboys' Larry Brown, who went from a nobody to Super Bowl XXX MVP.....back to a nobody. So, who could be the darkhorses in this game?? Well, for Indianapolis, I'll take Aaron Moorehead; For Chicago, Desmond Clark.
Really, the surprise had to be Domanic Rhodes. Rhodes hadn't had a 100-yd rushing game since 2001....but pulls one out in the Super Bowl.
#17-SOMEONE WILL SCORE BEFORE HALFTIME: There has never been a Super Bowl that was scoreless at halftime. NEVER. The closest came in Super Bowl IX when the Steelers took a 2-0 lead into the half over the Vikings. But the last five Super Bowls have seen NO touchdowns scored in the 1st quarter....with two of them being scoreless in the first quarter. In fact, only TWICE has the Super Bowl been tied at halftime anyways. Super Bowl XXIII, the Niners and Bengals weretied at 3-3 at the half. Then, Super Bowl XXXIX was tied 7-7 at the half.
It took less than a minute to put points on the board....a Super Bowl record.
#21-NO MORE GRASS: The Colts have lost their last three games on grass surfaces. Miami's Dolphins Stadium, where the Super Bowl will be played, has a grass surface.
That streak ended
#29-COLTS DOUBLE DUTY II: The Colts are trying to become the second team to win Super Bowls with in two different cities. The other is the Raiders, who won Super Bowls in Oakland and Los Angeles.
They accomplished that feat.
#31-TEN POINT COMEBACK: Sure, this is a biased remark...but it seems to be true. Super Bowl XXII.....Denver goes up 10-0 quickly. Then came the 2nd quarter. Doug Williams, Ricky Sanders and Timmy Smith led Redskins onslaught. Five TDs in an 18-play frame that took up 5:47 off the clock. 35 points. When halftime came around, Washington was up 35-10....and coasted in the second half for a 42-10 victory. Timmy Smith ran for 204 yards, still an NFL record. And the 10 point deficit is still the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
The Colts came close...coming back from an 8-point deficit.
#33-KICK RETURNING: Much is made about the Bears' Devin Hester returning kicks this year [he has 3 punt returns for TDs]....but no punt has been returned for a TD in Super Bowl history. None. In fact, only once has a punt been returned for more than 35 yards [John Taylor's 45-yd puntreturn in Super Bowl XXIII]. And no opening kickoff has been run back for a TD, either.
Broke that promise!
#34-BAD QB PLAY: Many people will wonder how Rex Grossman got his team to a Super Bowl? He will likely go down with Tony Eason, Kerry Collins, Trent Dilfer, David Woodley, Craig Morton, Joe Kapp, Vince Ferragamo and Neil O'Donnell as one of the worst QBs to ever make the big game. Of those QBs, only Dilfer won the game. By the way, Ben Roethlisberger last year set the record for worst QB game rating for a Super Bowl winner.
Oh...he will be the president of that club.
#35-NO TWO-AND-OHS: The Bears are makingjust their 2nd Super Bowl appearance. They won their first trip, back in Super Bowl XX, joining the Ravens, Buccaneers and Jets as the only franchises to win their only trip to the Super Bowl. However, no franchise is 2-0 in Super Bowls. None. The only franchise that has made more than one Super Bowl appearance and is still undefeated is the San Francisco 49ers...who are 5-0.
And the Bears made sure there were no 2-0s
#36-AFC DOMINATION: The AFC has won 7 of the last 9 Super Bowls, including three in a row....just after the NFC ran off 13 straight wins in the 1980s and 1990s. The NFC still holds the advantage at 21-19. But take outthe NFC's 13-game win streak....and the AFC has won 19 of 27 games. The only NFC champions to with the game in the past decade are the 1999 Rams and 2002 Buccaneers.
Make that 8 wins in 10 Super Bowls....and four wins in a row.
#39-ANIMAL POWER: This Colts-Bears Super Bowl will only be the 2nd time that both mascots are animals. The first time was in Super Bowl XXXIII when the Falcons and Broncos matched up. Technically, this will be the first meeting of mammal mascots.
This is the first animal win since the Ravens in 2000....and the first mammal [and horse] since the 1999 Broncos.
#40-CLOSEST SUPER BOWL EVER: Chicago andIndianapolis are just 159 miles apart. That is the closest proximity between two Super Bowl cities ever. Coming in 2nd is Baltimore-New York....which is 173 miles apart. The odd thing about that is that the Baltimore-New York connection met up twice, yet involved four different teams. Once, it was the NY Jets and Baltimore Colts....with the NY Giants and Baltimore Ravens being the other matchup.
Yet, it still wasn't that close.
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