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Colts beat Bears in soggy Super Bowl XLI

Feb 5, 2007 - 5:33 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy are singing in the rain. The running back tandem of Dominic Rhodes and rookie Joseph Addai and the maligned defense of the Indianapolis Colts can join in the chorus.

For the first time in 36 years, the Colts are NFL champions as they soundly defeated the Chicago Bears, 29-17, in Super Bowl XLI.

In a steady rain that just made their performance more glistening, Manning passed for 247 yards and a touchdown and Rhodes and Addai combined for 190 rushing yards.

"How about that? I come to Miami and play in the soaking rain," said Manning, who was named Super Bowl MVP. "You wouldn't expect it, but the rain wasn't a factor."

This was the first Super Bowl to feature two black coaches and Dungy became the first to win one. He also is the fourth to defeat a protege, as Bears coach Lovie Smith worked as a linebackers coach under Dungy with Tampa Bay from 1996-2000.

"I'm just so proud of my players to battle under these conditions and hang together and play as one," Dungy said. "Peyton was very patient despite the weather, our running game gave us a big lift and our defense played together. Everybody just did their jobs."

Manning certainly did his, completing 25-of-38 passes, including a 53-yard touchdown to Reggie Wayne in the first quarter.

The backfield of Rhodes and Addai did their jobs as well. Rhodes recorded his first 100-yard rushing game since 2001, gaining 113 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Addai added 77 yards on the ground and caught 10 passes for 66 yards.

"Peyton understood that he had a lot of players around him to take advantage of," Addai said. "He understood that he didn't have to do it by himself, so we got the job done."

The Colts' defense got it done as well, forcing five turnovers, including three by mistake-prone quarterback Rex Grossman.

Cornerback Kelvin Hayden, who replaced injured starter Nick Harper in the second half, made the biggest defensive play when he intercepted a floating pass by Grossman along the right sideline and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown, making it 29-17 with 11:44 left.

"We just stepped up the whole postseason where we just made the plays and the defense buckled down," Hayden said.

Indianapolis ranked 23rd in points allowed during the regular season (22.5 per game), but yielded an average of 16.3 points in its four playoff wins.

The Colts, who moved from Baltimore in 1984, won their first title since taking Super Bowl V, another sloppy contest which featured 11 turnovers. This one had eight.

"When you turn the ball over as much as we did, it's really hard to win," Smith said. "You have to give them a lot of credit. They had a great game plan coming in. Hopefully, next season we can take one more step and finish the job."

The Bears (15-4) were trying to win their first title since doing the "Super Bowl Shuffle" in 1985. But the NFC's best defensive team yielded a staggering 430 yards to the Colts.

"The defense and I just didn't make plays," Bears Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "All season long, we have prided ourselves on our defense and making plays and we did not come out and do that today."

After Chicago rookie sensation Devin Hester became the first player to return the opening kickoff of a Super Bowl for a touchdown, the Bears were dominated by the Colts. Hester set an NFL record with six touchdown returns this season - three on punts, two on kicks and one on a missed field goal.

But after Hester immediately stung the Colts with a 92-yard runback, Dungy made sure to kick the ball away from him. Hester, who attended the University of Miami, returned just one punt for three yards the rest of the way.

"It's very frustrating," Hester said. "For teams to kick away from you is hard to take."

Indianapolis dominated the line of scrimmage, controlling the ball for 38 minutes and outgaining Chicago, 430-265. During one stretch across halftime, the Colts ran 23 of 24 plays from scrimmage, with the Bears' only snap resulting in a fumble.

Grossman, who committed 25 turnovers during the regular season, bobbled away a snap in the second quarter and was intercepted by safety Bob Sanders in the final period.

"Getting the ball from center was tough. The ball would slide off my hands," Grossman said. "Once I got hold of it, I could throw it fine."

Grossman completed 20-of-28 passes for 165 yards, including a four-yard touchdown to Muhsin Muhammad with 4:34 left in the first quarter, giving the Bears - seven-point underdogs - a surprising 14-6 lead.

But the Colts scored the next 16 points. Adam Vinatieri kicked a 29-yard field goal and Rhodes bulled in for a one-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Vinatieri, best known for kicking two Super Bowl-winning field goals for the New England Patriots, added field goals of 24 and 20 yards in the third quarter to give the Colts a 22-14 advantage.

"The field started out in pretty good shape but it kept raining and the guys started tearing it up," said Vinatieri, whose miss from 36 yards as the first half ended was his only one of the postseason in 15 tries.

Robbie Gould kicked a 44-yard field goal with 1:14 left in the third quarter, pulling the Bears within 22-17.

But Grossman made two critical mistakes in the fourth quarter. His first came when he lofted a pass down the right sideline to Muhammad, who was well covered by Hayden.

"I was giving 'Moose' a chance to go up and battle for it on kind of a hitch-and-go," Grossman said. "The corner got his eyes around and saw the ball and made a good play on it. In hindsight, I wish I could have thrown it away."

On Chicago's next possession, Grossman threw a long lollipop over the middle intended for Bernard Berrian, who was double-covered on the play. Sanders picked off the pass and returned it 38 yards.

"They did a little play action and I just kind of read the quarterback," Sanders said. "I figured he was going to try to hit it over the middle because we had the linebacker running through. Once he threw it up, I just took off and kept my eyes on the ball and just became the receiver."

Thomas Jones rushed for 112 yards on 15 carries for the Bears. One of those carries was a 52-yard run that set up Muhammad's TD catch in the second quarter.

Playing in the first Super Bowl of his 11-year career, Indianapolis' Marvin Harrison had five catches for 59 yards.

A Super Bowl-record four turnovers were committed in the first quarter. The first came when Manning was intercepted by safety Chris Harris just 2:12 into the game. Manning later victimized Harris on his 53-yard touchdown to Wayne with 6:50 left in the first quarter.

However, Hunter Smith dropped the snap and Vinatieri was tackled after recovering the ball, leaving the Bears with a 7-6 lead.

Gabe Reid fumbled the ensuing short kickoff after being hit by Robert Mathis and Dylan Gandy recovered for the Colts at the Chicago 34. But on the next play, Manning failed to make a clean handoff to Addai and rookie defensive end Mark Anderson recovered for the Bears.

The Bears had a 14-6 lead and possession at their 48 when running back Cedric Benson was stuffed for no gain and had the ball knocked loose by Sanders. Defensive end Dwight Freeney recovered for the Colts.

In the second quarter, Colts tight end Bryan Fletcher fumbled after catching a six-yard pass. Cornerback Charles Tillman made the hit and recovered the fumble at the Chicago 36.

On the next play, Grossman fumbled a snap and defensive tackle Raheem Brock recovered at the Chicago 35.