WOW, THE BEARS ARE REALLY CRAPPY AFTER ALL, AREN'T THEY

That "Super Bowl" show last night was a real hoot, wasn't it? The Indianapolis Colts win in a sloppy, waterlogged affair that really wasn't as close as the score (29-17) would indicate. Though I wouldn't stretch to call it a boring game, it was certainly one of the more poorly played Super Bowls in recent memory, as both teams combined for five fumbles in the first half, including two instances of the recovering team following up a fumble with one of their own. Both teams would eventually settle down in the second half, but Rex Grossman compensated for the lack of excitement by heaving two cringe-worthy interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown to seal the game in the fourth quarter.

Given the nature of the Bears' demise, there is a lot of finger-pointing going around The Morning After and rightfully so - the team that showed up in Miami was an unfortunate caricature of the Bears that steamrolled the National Football Conference during the regular season. Most of the blame-mongering will target Rex Grossman, who mixed an admirable David Carr imitation into his Evil Rex routine, conceding away third down conversions with weaksauce checkdowns (he completed 20 of 28 passes!), as well as failing to protect the ball in crucial situations.

But, ultimately, this same scrutiny should be applied to the rest of the offense, which struggled mightily against a rejuvenated Indianapolis defense. I've stated in NFL discussions on this board that time of possession can be misused when putting a game into proper context. The entire story of Super Bowl XLI, however, can be told through the stunning discrepancy in TOP:

QUARTER...BEARS..COLTS

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1st Qtr:...5:44...9:16

2nd Qtr:...4:20..10:40

3rd Qtr:...4:05..10:55

4th Qtr:...7:47...7:13

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TOTAL:....21:56..38:04

The longest Chicago offensive drive of the game lasted 2:22. Two minutes and twenty-two seconds. Grossman certainly didn't have a sharp game, but neither did the Bears' running attack: Cedric Benson was a complete non-factor (and injured for most of the game) and, outside of the big 52 yarder that led to the Bears' only offensive touchdown of the game, Thomas Jones couldn't really put anything together against a supposedly-porous Colts run defense.

The Colts, on the other hand, dominated the line of scrimmage, carving up the Bears' top-rated defense with 191 yards on the ground - a season-high for Chicago's run defense - and 430 yards in total. Though much of the credit for those rushing yards should certainly go to the tandem of Addai and Rhodes, the performance of the Indianapolis offensive line should not be ignored, as both backs found plenty of holes in the line when they got the handoff. Manning (who gave the weakest Super Bowl MVP-winning performance since Tom Brady earned the award in 2001 for 145 yards and a TD) simply took whatever an off-balance Bears defense would give him, which included a wide-open Reggie Wayne for a 53 yard touchdown in the second quarter. Though the Bears did just about everything that they could to keep the game close at the half, they couldn't hold out forever, as the Colts simply imposed their will and finally broke through with an excruciating seven minute drive to start off the second half.

The only time where the Bears showed a distinct advantage was in special teams: Devin Hester scorched some woeful kickoff coverage for a touchdown on the first touch of the game and the threat of a repeat performance forced the Colts into squib kicks for virtually every ensuing Chicago return. Otherwise, complete squa-doosh, as Kornheiser might say.

All in all, it was a painful game for Bears fans everywhere, with the added benefit of putting a lot of Patriots fans in an awkward position of actually having to respect Peyton Manning now. It's not a position they're going to take quietly - we've seen some sour grapes on TSM already, and I can only imagine the sludge that we'll get from the Sports Guy later this week. But it's just a matter of time, since the two things that they could hold against Manning - beating the Patriots and winning the big one - have been erased by the championship run of the 2006 Indianapolis Colts. Congratulations to Alfdogg, that cowboy dude with the numbers in his name, and any other Colts fans on the board.

MASTER OF REALITY IS A HEAVY METAL ROCK ALBUM

After a stern talking-to from Agent of Oblivion, I went ahead and acquired the remasters of Black Sabbath's 1971 release, Master of Reality. That old curmudgeonly poop Christgau graded it at C-, but I'd say it's a fair deal better than that. Not a ballsmashingly five-star affair (AllMusic strikes again!), but still pretty good.

That being said, I'm still struggling with the idea that "Children of the Grave" is a heavier song than Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks." The former is certainly enough in its own right, but I'm not even sure it's the heaviest song on Master of Reality, let alone comparable to the room-shaking drums of the latter. Maybe it's just a matter of taste. Shrugs.

CAST THY SHIP ABLAZE AND ALONE, FOREVER INTO TWILIGHT

New Millennium Blues is dead. Not exactly news, if you had seen some of the "last post dates" hanging around the non-wrestling folders at the new board, but worth a mention anyway because:

A. Loss and co. have set up a new wrestling-happy venture at ProWrestlingOnly.com.

B. This post should be the last time I'll mention my old board, or talk about old board drama in this blog.

Good luck to Loss and the rest of the PWO crew.