Indianapolis Colts Are Super Bowl Champions [J. Mark English]

The Colts win, and what a ride its been for them. They won in dramatic fashion against the Colts, and now they prevail over the Bears, giving little doubt over who would be the victors in Super Bowl XLI.

I had predicted before the start of the game that the Bears would win. I expected the Bears to win on the strength of their running game. The Colts had the worst run defense in the NFL this year, and one would think that the Bears would have been able to have their way. But this would not be the case. The Colts defensive was superb. They kept the team in it early on when the Bears were poised to expand on a 14-6 lead by forcing key turnovers.

Meanwhile, Manning, who did not look flashy, kept his offense on the field for a significant length of time. This took the Bears offense out of sync, and allowed the Colts to wear down the Bears D.

Everything the Bears needed to do to win, they could not implement. The Colts had their way against the Bears offense, and the Colts offense physically out played the Bears defense.

Happy times in the land of Indianapolis. Tony Dungy has worked so hard to get to this moment and her certainly deserves this. Peyton Manning too can now say that not only was he one of the greats, but that he is a champion.

Bill Parcells said after the Giants won the Super Bowl in 1986 that "no one can ever take this away from you." No one can ever say that Manning is not a champion.

Look at a player like Edgerrin James. Last year the former Colt became a free agent, and leaped at the chance to take the money with the Arizona Cardinals. Great, he can say he has a lot of money. But that can be taken away. You can lose money, and what are you left with?

The players on this Colt team will forever be known as champions. And now one can take that away from them. What a special feeling that must be.