Rocket, Laser Arm Beats the Sex Cannon

Peyton Manning filled in the missing piece of his resume last night by dissecting the Bears' defense and leading the Colts to a 29-17 Super Bowl victory. Manning wasn't as good as he could have been, but he was effectively efficient in going 25-38 for 247 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Manning continually took what the Bears gave him. He hit the underneath routes when the Bears' linebackers dropped deep, and he threw to the outside when they gave him single coverage. Joseph Addai wound up with ten catches to lead all players, and the Bears' defense continued the struggles it has had since season ending injuries to Tommie Harris and Mike Brown. All in all, it was a sloppy game played in sloppy conditions, but Manning managed the game and led the Colts to a methodical win. On the other hand,........

• Rex Grossman was horrible. Whether he was fumbling snaps, falling down, or throwing moonball interceptions, Grossman lived up to his reputation. His numbers weren't terrible; he was 20-28 for 165 yards and one touchdown, but one of his interceptions was returned for a game clinching touchdown, and his other miscues kept the Bears' offense from finding a consistent rhythm. Chicago would be smart to bring in some competition for training camp because they cannot afford to go into another season with Grossman as their only real option at QB. Jeff Garcia's name is already being tossed around in the Windy City, and it would not be surprising to see the squirrly veteran in Midnight Blue next season.
• Chicago's defensive coordinator Ron Rivera has been linked to the Dallas job for a few weeks now, and one has to wonder if yesterday's performance hurt his chances. The Bears' D played tentatively for most of the night. The only way to stop Manning is to get pressure on him, but Chicago let him dink and dunk his way down the field all day. Norv Turner is the other front runner for the job, and rumors have been swirling that Rivera might make a move to take over as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator if he does not get the head coaching position. Either way, Jerry Jones is surely going to take a deeper look into Rivera's profile before making any moves.
• Did no one at CBS know that it might rain during the game?? The camera lenses were constantly foggy with condensation, and it seems ridiculous that they were unable to keep a clear picture for much of the game. Billions of dollars were spent for the rights to the game, and CBS couldn't afford the money to squeegee their lenses.
• With all of the parity in the NFL, it is extremely difficult to repeat as champions. That being said, the Colts have to be the front runner going into next season. They will have their O-line in tact, Joseph Addai will be a better running back, the young defense will only get better, and they still have the rocket-laser arm at quarterback. Now that Manning has gotten past the Pats and won the ultimate prize, it is possible that he could reel off at least another Super Bowl or two. The pressure is off of Manning and Tony Dungy, both of whom had demons of winning the big game in their past. Now all that is left is for the Colts to just go out and play the game.

Today is bittersweet because now we have to wait until the Draft for significant NFL discussion to heat back up. Of course the Bengals could liven things up with another arrest of two, but we will have to wait and see on that.