2008 Woodie Awards
Super Bowl Preview
Dakota Rubin
Issue date: 1/30/07 Section: Sports
The Gameplan
Colts Offense vs. Bears Defense
The Colts opened up as the early favorite and I can't blame anyone for picking them to win after the performance Man-ning had in leading them back from a historic 18-point deficit.
Manning is capable of lead-ing his team to victory but needs a lot of help from his of-fensive line in shutting down the once again vaunted Bears defense that caused so many problems for the Saint's Drew Brees.
He will also need a solid game from rookie running back Joseph Addai in order to open up play action passing op-portunities down the field.
But the Bears defense that had been just average for the last part of the season really stepped up against the Saints after a week of hearing how they weren't good enough. They will need a repeat perfor-mance in order to shut down the Colts.
Bears Offense vs. Colts Defense
When Chicago has the ball it will be all about the running game. The two-headed monster that is Thomas Jones and Ced-ric Benson ran all over New Or-leans for 196 combined yards.
The Colts run defense has not allowed a 100-yard rusher during the playoffs after allow-ing every team during the sea-son at least 100 yards.
So what changed? Some say the return of Sanders has had a big effect but a lot of it has to do with opponents getting away from the running game. Unfor-tunately, for the Colts, that will not happen against the Bears. Expect Grossman to hand it off to his backfield mates at least 45 times during the game.
If the Bears want to win they must get their running game going in order to keep Manning off the field. The run-ning game will also open up play action passing for Gross-man who can be extremely ef-fective at finding his receivers, especially Bernard Berrian, down the field for big plays.
Indy's defense must try to stop the run and put the ball in Grossman's hands and force him to make mistakes. The Bears lose when Grossman turns the ball over.
If Grossman is asked to do more than just control the game, the Bears could be in real trouble. Conversely if the Colts cannot protect Manning and allow the turnover happy Bears defense to run all over the field it could be a long day for Indy fans.
Colts Offense vs. Bears Defense
The Colts opened up as the early favorite and I can't blame anyone for picking them to win after the performance Man-ning had in leading them back from a historic 18-point deficit.
Manning is capable of lead-ing his team to victory but needs a lot of help from his of-fensive line in shutting down the once again vaunted Bears defense that caused so many problems for the Saint's Drew Brees.
He will also need a solid game from rookie running back Joseph Addai in order to open up play action passing op-portunities down the field.
But the Bears defense that had been just average for the last part of the season really stepped up against the Saints after a week of hearing how they weren't good enough. They will need a repeat perfor-mance in order to shut down the Colts.
Bears Offense vs. Colts Defense
When Chicago has the ball it will be all about the running game. The two-headed monster that is Thomas Jones and Ced-ric Benson ran all over New Or-leans for 196 combined yards.
The Colts run defense has not allowed a 100-yard rusher during the playoffs after allow-ing every team during the sea-son at least 100 yards.
So what changed? Some say the return of Sanders has had a big effect but a lot of it has to do with opponents getting away from the running game. Unfor-tunately, for the Colts, that will not happen against the Bears. Expect Grossman to hand it off to his backfield mates at least 45 times during the game.
If the Bears want to win they must get their running game going in order to keep Manning off the field. The run-ning game will also open up play action passing for Gross-man who can be extremely ef-fective at finding his receivers, especially Bernard Berrian, down the field for big plays.
Indy's defense must try to stop the run and put the ball in Grossman's hands and force him to make mistakes. The Bears lose when Grossman turns the ball over.
If Grossman is asked to do more than just control the game, the Bears could be in real trouble. Conversely if the Colts cannot protect Manning and allow the turnover happy Bears defense to run all over the field it could be a long day for Indy fans.
Be the first to comment on this story