by Nicholas Berg
Super Bowl XLI Preview
When the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts take the
field in Miami Feb. 4, history will be made. For the first
time in the 41 year existence of the Super Bowl not one, but two
African-American head coaches will meet in the nation's biggest
sporting event. Coach Lovie Smith became the first
African-American head coach to reach the Super Bowl Jan. 21, by
leading the Bears (15-3) to an impressive 39-14 victory over the
New Orleans Saints in the NFC championship game. Four
hours later, his former mentor and close friend, Tony Dungy
followed him into the history books. Dungy and the Colts
(15-4) defeated their longtime rivals the New England Patriots in a
stunning 38-34 upset in the AFC championship game.
The historic journey to Super Bowl XLI began back in
1996 when Dungy was named head coach of the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers. Dungy gave Smith his first NFL job as the
linebackers coach for the Bucs. In an era when only two other
African-Americans held head coaching positions in the NFL, the two
formed a friendship that has endured in the years since.
Both coaches have similar coaching philosophies that
focus on being a teacher rather than screaming and yelling at their
players, but the key to Super Bowl XLI will be their
differences. The big game looks to be a classic matchup of
dominating defense vs. explosive offense. Going in to the
Super Bowl Las Vegas oddsmakers have the Colts as 7 point favorites
over the Bears. The reason many believe the Bears are underdogs is
because of the inconsistent play of quarterback Rex Grossman.
Grossman has stepped up in the playoffs though making hardly any
mistakes. While putting up solid numbers in victories over the
Seahawks and the Saints.
On the other side of the ball the
Bears have one of the NFL’s elite defenses lead by All-Pro middle
linebacker and last season’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year Brian
Urlacher. The Bears rookie kick return specialist Devin Hester
could prove to be the x-factor against the Colts who gave up 220
yards on kickoff returns against the Patriots. The Colts
have one of the most powerful offenses in the National Football
League. Finishing the regular season third in total offense, second
in passing offense, and tied for second in scoring offense. Lead by
Peyton Manning the Colts offensive that The Bears have
dominated the series since the Colts’ relocation to Indianapolis,
winning four of the five meetings. The Colts, though, won the
most recent match up. In 2004, they posted a 41-10 win as
quarterback Peyton Manning passed for 211 yards and four
touchdowns. The day when a coach's
race is no longer an issue hasn’t arrived just yet. But by making
history together, Smith and Dungy have brought it a little
closer. |
