The Super buildup

Cleaning my apartment last night, I came across an old issue of this very paper. Thumbing through, I was surprised to find the NFL Power Rankings I had written way back in week four. Guess who held the No. 1 and 2 slots?

You got it, the Bears and the Colts.

Now, by no means will I paint myself as an accurate predictor of the NFL. Perhaps you remember (though you probably don’t) that I went 0-4 in our first set of playoff predictions picks. Then I had the Saints and Patriots advancing to the Super Bowl. Not. Even. Close. Luckily, I’m not alone.

As the season began, famed Sports Illustrated writer Dr. Z had the Panthers beating the Dolphins in the Super Bowl-neither of those teams would reach the playoffs. As the season progressed, Z was routinely out-picked by a supermodel.

Still, back in week four it looked like I had some serious mojo going. Well, that is until I actually re-read the column.

“Unless the stars realign, smart betters bank on the Colts until playoff pressure rears its ugly head,” I wrote. Well take that, me, Vegas odds now favor the Colts by a touchdown.

That’s not the least of it. Things keep getting weirder.

It was Indianapolis’ defense, forever maligned as too weak to reach a Super Bowl, that gave Peyton Manning the chance to win the conference championship by stopping the Patriots from converting a late-game third and four. Then they sealed the deal by picking off Brady, stopping the comeback king’s final drive of the season.

Now, to Chicago. For the duration of the playoffs, so many people, including a number of Bears fans, have been holding their breath, waiting for that monumental Rex Grossman choke to flush a Bears victory right down the toilet. To all of our surprise, he hasn’t. And while his play is far from stellar, Rex is actually getting the job done.

At the same time, the once-vaunted Chicago defense that could always be counted on to deliver a knockout has been weakening a bit as of late. In their first eight games the Bears allowed an average of 8.6 points per game. Then over the next 10 that figure more than doubled to a surprising 21.

While the Colts trot out one of the league’s top QBs in Manning and are second in the league in scoring at 26.7 points per game, Grossman and the Bears are right there. The two teams are actually tied in scoring.

The media will probably hype up that Super Bowl XLI pits a great defense against a great offense, but that’s not totally true. Both teams have good defenses and efficient offenses.

There are a few things, though, that we can count on. First, we now know that two African-American head coaches will go head-to-head in the Super Bowl for the first time. This, my friends, is awesome. Second, Prince is playing at halftime, which is almost as awesome.

Certain Americans may not be ready for either of these things. Some would rather see Bill Parcells coaching and Kenny Chesney belting at halftime. But not me. To these sorry individuals I offer only one piece of advice: Get used to it.

The third lock is that we’ll hear “Peyton Manning finally getting his chance” stories ad nauseum. For all of our sake, this is the last I will ever speak of it.

As for my pick? Beats me. Might as well flip a coin. Could go either way. Some would call this parity, but I think it’s more the nature of the game. Don’t take my advice, obviously. Anyone betting against me this season would have made enough to buy the truck in the commercial that you will see repeated over and over this Sunday. However, the way things have gone this crazy season, if Grossman somehow earns the Super Bowl MVP, don’t act too surprised.