I don't blame Brady for losing last night in Indy, even though his 'what the hell was on his mind' game-ending INT shouldn't have been thrown, even in Madden 07 on Rookie, I don't blame him. I blame my mom.

???

Yeah, I do. See, a few years ago I told my mom in no uncertain terms that there was a greater chance of me being married for the first time than there was of her being married for a second. In Vegas, I'd have put money on this being truth everyday of the week and 40 times on Sunday. Link this to Peyton's performing in clutch situations. No way, no how, he beats Brady in the playoffs. Not EVEN with a 21-3 deficit staring him and the Colts right in the face. But... here's what hit me.

On Friday night, I found out my mom's engaged to be married in August.

Last night, the Colts did the absolute unthinkable and sent the Pats home for the second consecutive year before the Super Bowl without a ring. So I tip my hat to Peyton, because simply put, he showed not only did he have a backbone, he showed the world that maybe he just needed home field against the right team in order to finally get over that hump.
I tip my hat to Dungy, for FINALLY doing what he was unable to do in Tampa. And while I'm sure everyone's going to marvel over the fact that two black head coaches will be on the NFL's biggest stage in 13 days, I'm gonna put a MUCH different spin on this. This is, the Tampa Bowl folks.

They're two coaches from the same franchise tree and for a change, it's not two disciples from one particular coach as we've seen in the past. It is two coaches who came from one team, during a time when this team [the Bucs] were probably the best team in the league to have never won it all. What a ton of folks don't realize is, for a much maligned franchise until Dungy took it over, most of the really good black head coaches in this league [Tony Dungy, Herm Edwards, and Lovie Smith] all came from Tampa Bay. I'm not sure if Herm's ever going to get to this point. All willing, I hope he does as he's one of my Top Three favorite coaches in the league [right behind Belichick and...wait. Herm's #2 behind Bill. My bad.]

Nevertheless, Tampa's probably gonna be the proudest, as that franchise can say without hesitation, we had em' both.

As for the game itself, it's strength on strength here. Peyton Manning and his O against Brian Urlacher and that D. In all seriousness, not to make a pun out of this which will be overstated repeatedly in the next 13 days; this version of the Bears sorta mirrors the Super Bowl Shuffling ones from 1985. They had a QB who did just enough to get the team over [just as these Bears have Rexy] and a not so memorable cast of receivers, but a really good running game that could eat up the clock [I won't compare Payton to
the platoon of Jones and Benson]. Oh yeah, that D had a middle linebacker that looked like he had gunpowder put in his grits everyday for breakfast.

I still don't have much confidence in the Colts' D. Why? Because while they did win last night, they simply won because when Indy had the ball last, they scored and New England didn't. They gave up a ton of yards and that run defense, which has been their achilles for most of the first 16 games, didn't do diddly to stop Clock Killin' Dillon and L-Marone. Their secondary, aside from their safeties who are lights out, I don't trust their
corners. There are those who feel the same about the Bears, but here's the thing.

While the Pats did everything short of walk off the field and allow the Colts to play football with themselves, the Colts still fell behind by three scores. The Bears played hungry yesterday. Even when they looked to be on the verge of being overtaken by the Saints, they stood their ground and sent the Saints marching back to NO with the L. Oh and for any of you Pats fans out there, contemplating the absolute worst? I've sat through worst. I was watching four years earlier when the 69ers came back from 24 down in the second half to send the Giants home.

As for my pick, I take the Bears.

Ahem, DA Bears.