The Game Was Up to Expectations

First, I appreciate the kudos from Thew.

Second, while I agree that Colts played solid football (certainly in the second half), I don't agree that the Bears defense or Grossman is to "blame" for the loss. I do believe that Dungy beat Smith and this was a coach's victory.

Turnovers were a factor. There were two muffed snaps that do not appear on the "fumble" line which were very important in stopping Bear's drives. That would make 8 "fumbles" and picks of which 5 were turnovers. Ouch.

Grossman did not play well, but WTF were the coaches think having him throw deep in the pouring rain? Manning was using short passes, running and the threat of going deep to march down the field. The Bears showed they could do that also, but then lost patience. And Grossman was not playing at the level necessary to make those plays. In summary, the Colts played within themselves and the Bears tried to do too much.

I agree about the whole "black" coach thing. Is the media saying that black coaches in the Super Bowl are a surprise because they are not as good? If not, drop the race thing. Tony Dungy is not a Hall of Fame black coach; he is a HoF coach who happens to have black skin. Lovie Smith (while not at Dungy's level yet) gives every indication that he will get there. Their skin color is not germane.

(In fairness, the media is always looking for an angle: oldest, youngest, first three legged coach, but adding adjectives that have no bearing on the underlying noun takes away from the main accomplishment: getting to the Super Bowl.)

On a final note: the ads were very disappointing. The Tilam family favorite was the Bud Light ad with the hitchhikers (Boy: "But he's got Bud Light." Girl: "And an ax!"). There were several that were cute, but none that were great.