This Sunday February 4
th is Super Bowl 41. In honor of that I have compiled 41 stats and facts about the Colts & Bears. After that I will give you my prediction for the game.
- Tony Dungy is 1 of 5 people to have played and coached in the Super Bowl (Mike Ditka, Forrest Greg, Sam Wyche and Dan Reeves).
- The Bears have 31 Hall of Famers while the Colts only have 12
- The Bears have retired 13 numbers while the Colts have retired 7
- The Bears are 1-0 in the Super Bowl; the Colts are 1-1
- The Bears are 2-2 vs. the AFC this season; the Colts are 3-1 vs. the NFC
- Nine players playing on Sunday have been in the Super Bowl before, Chicago's Brian Griese, Brad Maynard, Fred Miller, Muhsin Muhammad, Dante Wesley, Indianapolis's' Dan Klecko, Rickey Proehl, Adam Vinitieri, and Anthony "Booger" McFarland.
- Both starting QB's played in the SEC (Grossman-Florida, Manning-Tennessee)
- Both Grossman and Manning have had 7 games in the regular season with a QB rating of 100 or higher
- Manning has started 156 consecutive games
- Manning is 1 of 22 QB's drafted in 1st round of draft to reach the Super Bowl
- 3 players named Manning (Peyton, Rickey Danieal)
- IND. is 5-0 against common opponents, while CHI. is 2-2
- In the last five games Jim Sorgi has a better QB rating than Rex Grossman
- Adam Vinitieri's FG % on grass is 73.3%
- Robbie Gould led all kickers in scoring with 143 points
- Ron Rivera (Chicago's Defensive Coordinator) is the only coach on the Bears who was on the '85 team.
- TE Desmond Clark averages 44.2 yards in wins while only 17.3 yards in losses
- One player on each team played for the Ohio State Buckeyes
- This season's 3rd down conversion % is 56.1 for the Colts while only 36.8 for the Bears
- Nick Harper led all Colts players with 3 INTs, the Bears have 2 players with 5 INTs apiece
- Marvin Harrison & Reggie Wayne have combined for more TDs than CHI's top 6 receivers
- The Bears have scored 58 points on Defense and Special Teams
- IND has lost their last 3 games on a grass field
- IND's Dwight Freeny and CHI's Lance Briggs will be free agents at the end of the season
- Former AFL player Rashied Davis is averaging 13.8 yards per catch for the Bears
- CHI averages 5.3 turnovers in their 3 losses this season; 1.5 in their 15 wins
- CHI defensive end Alex Brown has as many INTs as IND's starting cornerback Jason David (2)
- CHI has been penalized for 57.7 yards per game while IND has only been penalized for 44.9 yards per game
- Dominic Rhodes averaged 3.4 yards per carry in the regular season; in the playoffs he's averaging 4.7 yards
- Dan Klecko has more TD receptions in the playoffs than Dallas Clark, Marvin Harrison and Joseph Addai combined (1)
- Devin Hester has a combined punt & kickoff return yards total of 1137
- 2 of CHI's 3 losses this season has come against the AFC
- 4 of 22 passes intercepted by the Bears have been returned for TDs this season
- Thomas Jones is the 2nd Bear to run for 1300 yards in a season (1st was Walter Payton)
- IND has given up 73.3 yards rushing per game in the playoffs; during the regular season the gave up 173.0 yards per game
- Brian Urlacher has topped 100 tackles in each of his 7 seasons
- Adewale Ogunleye has 46 sacks since 2002
- Joseph Addai & Dominic Rhodes have combined for 576 receiving yards in the regular season
- The Bears have allowed 3.7 yards per carry since week 14 when DT Tommie Harris got injured
- Dallas Clark has 281 yards receiving in the playoffs (Leads NFL)
- Brad Maynard has averaged 39.8 yards per punt in the playoffs while Hunter Smith has averaged 37.0 yards per punt in the playoffs
So here are some fun stats and facts to impress your friends with while watching the Super Bowl. As for my prediction for the game, the Colts will win 30-28 on a last second, 52 yards field goal by ADAM VINITIERI.