and just like that, the dream is over... for all of us saints/chargers fans. last week, san diego gave tom brady more than enough chances to pull off a miracle comeback, like he's made a career of doing. & this week... the saints made it close enough to be interesting & then rex grossman & the weather in chi-town took it away again. & while most of the commentators (on tv & off) hyped the safety as the turning point... that seems a little fatuous to me. what yer saying is that when chicago finally stopped new orleans from scoring any more points & then started scoring themselves again is when it all turned around? that's BRILLIANT insight! for MY money, the turning point of the game came when new orleans lost its first challenge. on a play where mcallister clearly had his knee AND shoulder down before he lost control of the football. jimmy johnson saw it that way too, so don't go saying i'm just a saints fan sucking on sour grapes.
still, i wonder what the chicago bears have to do to get some respect around here. they were the best team in the nfc. they posted the 2nd-best record in the nfl. their defence has been shaky of late, but over the first half of the season they had the best team defence in bears franchise HISTORY! & they're early 7 point underdogs to the colts? despite the history of dome teams in the superbowl over the last forty years?
sure, peyton led his team to the greatest comeback in a championship game. sure, he did it against his arch-rival tom brady & the vaunted patriots defence. & sure, it's nice to see peyton finally make it to the superbowl, thereby assuring himself of at least a "better" career than dan fouts. but he hasn't won it yet, & until he does (or until he goes back for a second superbowl trip) then he hasn't stepped out of the shadow of dan marino.
now thus far, i'm batting .500 on my playoff picks. 2-2 in week 1, 2-2 in week 2 & 1-1 yesterday. but i managed to go 2-1 in my bowl game picks going strictly with the underdogs (& my faves)... so i'll take the bears. as long as they can keep the ball out of venitari's field-goal range. he's already added to his new england legacy by setting a new mark for field goals in a single playoff run (with another game to go). i'll take the bears unless it comes down to a last-minute kick to win it all. then it just doesn't make sense to pick against adam venitari.
rex grossman hasn't shown the kinda consistency you'd like to see in a superbowl-calibre quarterback, but ben roethlisberger's numbers from last year weren't great. & with the kinda playoffs that tommy jones & benson (who's first name eludes me at the moment) are having eating up the ground... i'll remind everyone of indy's rush defence. yes, they shut down larry johnson, but i'll take grossman over trent green anyday.
& a parting tip of the hat at the announcement that bill parcells has had enough of dallas. i still say he's the greatest coach of them all, & i hope he'll be back on another sideline someday... looking to take a 5th team to the playoffs.