FB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[SaintsFAN]

must have been because of all the All-Pro receivers New England thinks they have. 

Really it was Offensive Coordinator McDaniels out-thinking himself. 

The Bears are going to run all over the Colts...  Manning is going to be under intense pressure to score on the limited possessions he gets as a result of the new ball control offense.  Once those DE's for the Bears get their ears pinned back to rush him, they'll be comparing them (rightly or wrongly) to the Monsters of the Midway. 

[FCC Approved Bland Name]

This Super Bowl could go in so many directions because you have Rex Grossman playing QB.  If the Bears run the ball and take deep shots then they could force Manning to press.  If they want Rex to control the ball with his arm then I think the Indy pass rush will force un-recoverable errors.  Having said that, if Indy can't get it in the endzone and Vinatieri has to kick a record number of field goals then Chicago can stay in reach.   Then the Chicago's run game can win it for the Bears.  If they stay close and patient then they may take it.  I'd bet the reverse however.  I think early scores by Indy forces the Bear's hand and they never recover.  They will need a defensive score to turn that around or have no chance.

Like I said, who knows.

[Adam Sayer]

The Saints offense was able to move the ball on Da Bears pretty effectively...until they kept turning it over. Once everything settled down after the 1st quarter (no team scored) the Saints did pretty well on offense. But it doesn't matter how many yards you rack up if you don't hold on to the football and that's what ultimately killed the Saints offense; not lack of production. I think the Colt's offense is better fundamentally than the Saints and you're giving Payton Manning 2 weeks to watch film and prepare. Da Bear's defense has also given up quite a few big plays and isn't the same dominating force like they were in weeks 1-8. I don't think the colts have to worry about Da Bears ball control offense because Rex will fold and eventually provide some TO's.

I'm seeing a 27-14 Colts win. I think Payton's problems were in large part due to the team in Boston and that coach and now that he's beaten him/them, the pressure is actually off.

[M and L]

Well put FCC Approved, I agree

But for my pick I am sticking with preason pick in the Colts. This is one Chance that Payton isn't going to let slipp.  Besides, I just think the colts are the all around better team.

Sayer, 27 pts, thats it.   At least 30-34 pts. 3 TD's and who knows how many FG Vinatieri makes

[victorybell_57]

saintsfan, thank you. i agree.

this game could be one for the ages, the superbowl i mean. high powered offense vs the high powered defense. last time we saw this type of a draw was the patriots vs the rams. i love indy and manning (his commercials are great. "moooovers") and i love the bears defense.

for those who know a bit about indiana, the state may be somewhat divided as most of the people from the region consider themselves chicago residents, not from indiana. should make for some great superbowl parties with many many wings and beer. lots of beer. i love it.

[Adam Sayer]

Just the NW Corner of Indiana down until you get to Valpo on 65 is still "Chicago's suburbs." Everyone else in Indiana are most likely to be Colts Fans.

When I was in Chi-Town, our hotel was 1/2 mile from Soldier Field. I didn't realize how small it was before they added on to it. Just by looking, it seems as if they could only fit 40-45,000 people in it before remodeling.

I remember the Rams-Pats game becuase I won a lot of money by taking the Pats outright. The Rams were double-digit favorites and I bet on the Patriots to win (not just beat the spread). It was about a $200 lucky guess.

[SaintsFAN]

Sayer,

having lived in Indianapolis prior to during the first year the Colts were there, I can tell you that most of the state are huge Bears fans because thats all they had prior to Irsay leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night in 84ish.  Indy embraced the Colts right away even though they were TERRIBLE with Mike Pagel at QB, then supported them through the Eric Dickerson days and then now...

I still have cousins and a late aunt/uncle up there who are pulling for both.  They are indeed Colts fans, but they won't be pissed at either result.

Its funny all this talk is going on, because I'm going to a cousin's wedding in Phoenix in 6 weeks (I have a huge family) and most everyone brought up this very subject yesterday via email.  The consensus was that my grandfather would be VERY excited to see this Super Bowl.

[frank uible]

As originally constructed in the 20s (and before 2 relatively recent renovations) Soldier Field had a seating capacity for football games in excess of 100,000.

[victorybell_57]

Frank is right, the original stadium was a huge oval, but kind of cut it short for football purposes. the original 100 + seating wasn't all that great for football. on the one end you were like 70 yards away from the nearest endzone.

region people really like the bears, chicago, and bad traffic. really bad traffic.

[tepee]

Sayer, Look at the new o-line coach /offensive cordinator at TMC....


http://www.thomasmore.edu/athletics/Football/assistants.cfm

[Adam Sayer]

You gotta be kidding me. Sh!t yeah we'll line up. I bet the offense don't take written quizes now at TMC.

[victorybell_57]

colts 18
bears 17

thoughts? predictions?

[M and L]

you got to be kidding me.  Good for Carp.

Did you see who is at Linebackers?  Didn't take long for PJ and Hilvert to reunite, and I bet it feels so good.   Good for PJ.

It looks like TMC is going to have a nice staff over there.

I can only speculate at who is going to be the D-line coach?

[SaintsFAN]

alot of changes at TMore this year....hopefully the field gets an upgrade as well.

The football alumni are meeting Coach Hilvert on Saturday...

[Adam Sayer]

Macke, are you referring to "Softball Ump" as the new D-line coach??? I know what I can do. I can be the TMC director of player interests and football opperations. Kind of like the new Oakland coach when he was in his first (and only) NFL authority position at Jacksonville.