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Colts, Bears will rely on defense,
QB play
All eyes
will turn toward Miami this weekend as the city hosts the NFL’s
Super Bowl XLI. The game will feature the Chicago Bears against
the Indianapolis Colts.
The Bears
arrived in Miami on Monday - the Colts on Tuesday - and will spend
this week preparing for the game and answering questions from the
media.
Both teams
will be looking for big games Sunday from their defenses as they
try to slow down the opposing offense.
The Bears
are hoping to reinvent themselves defensively and return to their
dominating style of play seen earlier this season.
The Bears’
defense seemed to have softened up as the end of the regular season
approached and still looked beatable throughout the postseason.
Bears linebacker
Brian Urlacher and the rest of the defensive unit will certainly
have their hands full with Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and
the rest of the high powered Indy offense.
The Colts
defense was criticized all season long and ranked last in a number
of defensive stats. But it has looked recharged and at times overpowering
since the start of the playoffs.
The return
of safety Bob Sanders has given the Colts defense a much needed
boost.
Both quarterbacks,
Manning and the Bears’ Rex Grossman, will be using this game
to answer questions and doubts aimed at each of them.
Manning
may one day go down as the best quarterback of all time, but the
stigma of not being able to win the big game looms over his head.
Grossman
has faced heat all season, and it was often doubted by fans and
the media if he should even be the Bears’ starter.
Both Manning
and Grossman can use this game to silence the critics.
Manning
can get the ring nearly everyone admits he deserves and put the
icing on a great career.
Grossman is hoping for a good game to provide him some vindication.
He wants to prove that he is a quarterback that belongs in the Super
Bowl.
In the end,
the game may come down to the play of either quarterback. It is
likely that one of them will be named most valuable player breaking
the two-year streak of wide receivers winning the award.
The Colts
enter Sunday as a seven point favorite, a spread that has remained
constant since the end of the conference championship games nearly
two weeks ago.
The game
airs Sunday at 6:25 p.m. on CBS.
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