Superbowl, Pt. 2

Indianapolis comes a little short again. And Vinatieri isn’t looking good.

Chi 14
Indy 19

Hard to find a better morale killer than putting together a couple decent plays, then giving up two straight sacks.

Unless it’s following that up by giving up a huge run first play from scrimmage after the snap.

No, I know, we’ll give up another big run, then a 15-yard facemask. But again Indy can’t close.

Chi 14
Indy 22

Anyone notice the placekicking has been weak? Chicago keeps getting great starting position from weak kickoffs.

I missed a bit while putting kids to bed, during which a promising Chicago drive ends in a field goal.

Chi 17
Indy 22

And again Indy can’t close the deal. Their inability to finish is keeping the Bears in this came.

And there is TrainRex in action. Interception, return, touchdown, ballgame. No that doesn’t look like he’s out of bounds on replay. Indeed, touchdown stands; I don’t see this Bears team playing like it is coming back from this.

Chi 17
Indy 29

And another interception. I can safely work in my sidebar now.

Garbage time is like you’d figure. Congratulations to Indianapolis.

By the way, Peyton Manning is a dominating quarterback, but he does it without looking all that impressive. He doesn’t scramble sacks into gains like Elway, throw cross-the-body connections like Favre or fire howitzers like Montana. He just slowly and methodically picks defenses apart. You have to really pay attention to appreciate how special he is.

Game over. On to the really important stuff.

The Commercials:

Overall, I thought a fairly uninspired crop. Here were my top three.

Bud Light Gorillas. Bud Light always rolls it out for the big game, but lately they’ve been more mean spirited than funny. Same this year, but the gorillas bit made me laugh.

K-fed Nationwide. Fed-Ex is as profound a waste of human potential as one can find, but I gotta tip the hat for his willingness to make fun of his artistic oeuvre, even if for a sizeable paycheck. And the commercial extends his time in the spotlight long enough that I will call it: Andrew Ridgely maintains his hold on the record for the shortest, least consequential post-breakup career.

Garman Ultra-Man. The tone was wrong – too straight up – but I loved the reference. For as much Seventies kid culture as we are living through these days, you don’t see much Ultra-Man. I was huge Ultra-Man kid back in the day. Way cooler than Johnny Sokko.