Pats And Bears In The Big Dance

We are predicting that it will be the Monsters of the Midway, the Chicago Bears, and the winningest team in the NFL in the last five years, the New England Patriots, in Super Bowl XI in Miami on Sunday, February 4th.

The Patriots going into this game are overall {14-4} this season and under Bill Belichick are 13-2 in the playoffs and to put it in simple english are used to winning and expect to win. They have won three Super Bowls in the last five years defeating the Rams, Jaguars and Eagles in thrillers that always went down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter where in all three contests the New Englanders made the big plays when it counted.

Tom Brady, the Patriots signal caller, was taken on the sixth round of the 2001 draft coming out of Michigan where his only year as a starter was his senior year when he went 10-2. He has an incredible 12-1 winning record in the playoffs and three Super Bowl rings and an MVP trophy from the 2003 win over the Jaguars to show for his short but brilliant NFL career.

It does not seem to matter who the personnel are on the field with Brady directing traffic as the Pats offense is always performing at optimum level in the big games. This year the team lost two of their top receivers: the incomparable Deion Branch the MVP of Super Bowl thirty nine and one of the league's most elusive big playmaking wide receivers and steady eddy David Givens who had a knack for making the big catches early in the game in crucial situations. The Pats took a little bit of time to adjust to these devastating losses but by mid season two off season acquistions and ex Florida Gator legends Reche Caldwell and and Jabar Gafney who were picked up on waivers from San Diego and Houston were fitting into the New England offense very nicely and wound up having the best year of their NFL careers. The legendary Adam Vinatieri recognized as the greatest place kicker to ever play in the NFL left the team this year for greener pastures with the Colts and will face his old teamates on Sunday afternoon. What did the Pats do to replace him? They drafted rookie Stephen Gostkowski from Memphis on the fourth round of this years draft and the team did not miss a beat in an area they were expected to be vulnerable.

Coaches come and go with the New England bunch with what would create alarming reactions in most other NFL franchises but because of the Patriot success it is understandable. They become head coaches in big time Colleges or other NFL cities like former Defensive Coordinator Romeo Crenell going to Cleveland and Offensive Coordinators Charlie Weiss and Eric Mangini leaving in successive years for Notre Dame and the New York Jets. What does Belichick do when this occurs? Nothing dramatic - he simply promotes from within and the beat goes on.

Bill Belichick is a master at getting the most out of the 3/4 defence and the current front three featuring nose guard Vince Wilfork and defensive ends Ty Warren and Richard Seymour have created havoc on every offense they have played against this season and are responsible for the New Englanders having the best overall defense in the AFC.

The Indianapolis Colts {14-4}, the Patriots oponents in this AFC final game, have home field advantage which most of them did not expect to have because they were seeded third going into the playoffs behind San Diego and Baltimore who have been eliminated. They will have to come up with their best game of the year and be clicking on all cylinders to if they expect to come out victorious. Their offense has not played up to par in their wins over Kansas City and Baltimore as Peyton Manning has thrown an uncharacteristic five interceptions. It has been their defense which has given them their best efforts of the year and has carried them to the final after being ranked the worst defence in the entire NFC at stopping the ground game all year long giving up on the average 173 yards rushing per game and 5.3 yards per carry. We expect the Patriots will launch their three headed monster ground attack starring Cory Dillon, Kevin Faulk and rookie Laurence Maroney on the Colts defensive line and by the end of the third quarter the Indy defenders will be warn out with their tongues dragging. It will be close but the Brady and Belichick led crew will win and advance to the Super Bowl even though they have lost their last two meetings with the Colts after winning the previuos six.

The NFC final to be played at windy and cold Soldiers Feild in Chicago automatically gives the Bears [14-3} a home field advantage and more so this time when you realize the visiting New Orleans Saints {11-6} who are playing in their first ever champoinship final are not only a warm climate team but a Domed Stadium team as well and will have no matter how much they think they have prepared for it trouble adjusting to the blustery conditions. In addition the insane Chicago crowd will make it very difficult for the Saints to hear quarterback Drew Brees barking out the signals. Brees who has had a remarkable year coming off shoulder surgery which he underwent early in the off season.can expect the Bears defensively to throw some of the most exotic blitz packages at him such as he has never seen before.

Rex Grossman the Bears signal caller had a great start this season but faltered badly in the second half as he fumbled the ball in crucial situations and threw several untimely and ill advised inteceptions which led to his decision making ability being questioned. However in last weeks win over Seattle he seemed to regain his early season form.

The Bears had the best overall defense in the NFL in the regular season with a slight dropoff in performance occurring towards the end of the season because of season ending surgery to tackle Tommie Harris and off the feild problems for their other defensive tackle Tank Johnson.It will be another close one with the Bears initially having trouble controlling the potent Saint offense featuring Deuce Mcallister and the electrifying Reggie Bush last years Heisman Trophy winner but the Bears will prevail.