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Manning and Colts win Super Bowl
The Indianapolis
Colts beat the Chicago Bears 29-17 in last night’s Super Bowl
in Miami to win the team’s first championship in over 30 years.
Colts quarterback
Peyton Manning was named Super Bowl MVP after completing 25 of 38
passes for 247 yards and throwing one touchdown pass.
The Bears
jumped on the scoreboard early as Devin Hester returned a 92 yard
kick off for a touchdown in the opening seconds of the game to give
the Bears a 7-0 lead to start.
In the end,
however, it all came down to Peyton Manning as he patiently continued
to take what the Bears defense was giving in short passes and screens.
The Bears
defense continued its postseason struggle to dominate and gave up
430 total yards of offense to the Colts.
Indianapolis
continued its trend of tough postseason defensive play allowing
the Bears only 265 total yards and 11 first downs.
The Colts’
defense also intercepted Bears quarterback Rex Grossman twice. Indy
defensive back Kelvin Hayden returned one of the Grossman interceptions
56 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Both teams
saw some success in their rushing games. For the Colts, Dominic
Rhodes led all rushers with 113 yards and a touchdown. Colts rookie
running back Joseph Addai also chipped in with 77 yards rushing.
Addai also caught 10 passes for 66 yards.
Running
back Thomas Jones had 112 yards on 15 carries for the Bears, including
a 52 yard run to put the Bears in scoring position in the first
quarter.
The game
did indeed come to down the play at the quarterback position though.
Grossman failed to ever really get the offense going for the Bears.
Manning seemed to always be in control for the Colts making plays
when he needed to.
Manning
also got help from his defense. The unit only gave up 17 points
and forced five Chicago turnovers.
The rain
in south Florida was thought to possibly pose as a disadvantage
to the Colts offense and Manning’s passing game. While the
weather may have attributed to the five total fumbles lost by both
teams, Manning overcame the weather and the critics that said he
was incapable of winning the “big game.”
Manning
and Colts coach Tony Dungy were able to write their own legacies
with the Super Bowl win.
Manning,
who could one day own a majority of the NFL’s passing records,
was able to put a Super Bowl ring along with them and finally silence
his critics.
Dungy made
history by becoming to the first African American coach to lead
a team to a Super Bowl win. Bears coach Lovie Smith, a good friend
of Dungy, joined him as both of them being the first African American
head coaches to even get to the Super Bowl.
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