Colts-Bears Matchup: Super Bowl

A Capsule Look at the Colts-Bears Match-Up in Super Bowl XLI COLTS (15-4) vs. BEARS (15-3)

Dolphins Stadium

Capacity: 76,000

Surface: Grass

Miami Gardens, Fla.

ABOUT THE BEARS...

HEAD COACH: Lovie Smith, 3rd season as Bears head coach (29-19, 31-20 including postseason).

2006 RECORD: 15-3, NFC Champions.

LAST TIME IN PLAYOFFS: 2005.

2006 NFL RANKINGS: Offense - Overall, 15th (324.9 yards per game); Rushing, 15th (119.9 ypg); Passing, 14th (205.1 ypg); Defense - Overall, 5th (294.1 yards per game); Rushing, 6th (99.4 ypg); Passing, 11th (194.8 ypg).

BEARS IN 2006: The Bears, like the Colts, have gone many years since last appearing in the Super Bowl. The Bears last played in the game in 1985; the Colts, in 1970.

There are similarities between the teams, and they start with the head coaches.

Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith worked for Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay from 1996-2000, and the two are close friends. They each believe in many of the same principles when it comes to coaching football.

Also like the Colts, the Bears used a quick start to the season to move to the top of their conference. Whereas the Colts slipped from the No. 1 seed to No. 3 in the season's final month, Chicago parlayed a 7-0 start into a 13-3 record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

Chicago then advanced to the Super Bowl with a 27-24 overtime victory over Seattle in an NFC Divisional Playoff before pulling away from the New Orleans Saints for a 39-14 victory in the NFC Championship Game this past Sunday.

Also like the Colts, the Bears didn't get through the season without difficulty.

Bears quarterback Rex Grossman, who started all 16 games, was one of the NFL's most scrutinized and criticized players throughout the season, struggling at times, but playing well enough often enough to have an NFL-high seven games with a passer rating of more than 100.

He also had five games in which his passer rating was below 40, including a 0.0 rating in a season-ending loss to Green Bay.

What Grossman never lacked was the support of Smith. Despite calls from fans and media to play backup quarterback Brian Griese, Smith never wavered, and Grossman enters the Super Bowl as the clear No. 1 starter.

Since Smith's 2004 arrival, the Bears have developed into one of the NFL's top defenses, and it was the defense that helped make Chicago special this season.

The Bears registered two shutouts, holding opponents under 10 points in four of the first five games. After ranking No. 1 in the NFL in total defense much of the season, the Bears sustained several key injuries late. Safety Mike Brown and defensive tackle Tommie Harris - among the NFL's top players at their positions - are out with foot and hamstring injuries, respectively. The Bears slipped to No. 5 in the NFL in total defense by season's end, and allowed 21 or more points in each of their last four games.

Even with those injuries, the Bears remain one of the league's top defensive teams, with middle linebacker Brian Urlacher a perennial Pro Bowl selection. Outside linebacker Lance Briggs also is one of the NFL's best.

End and pass-rush specialists Mark Anderson, a fifth-round selection in this past April's NFL Draft, led the Bears with 12 sacks in the regular season. Veteran defensive end Adewale Ogunleye led the Bears with two postseason sacks.

While the Colts were becoming the first team in NFL history to start back-to-back seasons 9-0, the Bears had the best start in the NFC. They won their first seven games of the season, and a big reason was a defense that was the league's most dominant during that span.

The Bears shut out Green Bay, 26-0, in the season opener, then followed that with victories over Detroit (34-7), at Minnesota (19-16), over Seattle (37-6) and at Buffalo (40-7) to move to 5-0.

In the sixth game, in one of the most memorable games of the season, the Bears overcame a 23-3 second-half deficit to beat Arizona, 24-23, doing so without an offensive touchdown. They improved to 7-0 with a 40-7 victory over San Francisco the following week.

The Beats lost two of their next four games - home against Miami (31-13) and at New England (17-13) - before winning four consecutive games to clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

They lost the regular-season finale, 26-7, to Green Bay in a game that had no playoff implications for the Bears.

KEY FREE AGENTS ACQUIRED: Brian Griese, QB (Tampa Bay); Ricky Manning, Jr., CB (Carolina); Dante Wesley, CB (Carolina).

KEY FREE AGENTS LOST: None.

ROOKIE CLASS: The Bears were without a first-round draft selection this past April, having traded the No. 26 overall selection in the draft to the Buffalo Bills for second- and third-round selections. The Bears used a second-round selection on safety Danieal Manning of Abiline Christian and a third-round selection on returner Devin Hester from Miami. Manning started the last 14 games of the season, finishing the season with two interceptions. Hester had an NFL-record six returns for touchdowns - two kickoffs, three punts and a missed field goal - and became the first Bears rookie to make the Pro Bowl since middle linebacker Brian Urlacher in 2001.

PLAYER TO WATCH: Rex Grossman, quarterback. If Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is the most-discussed player in Sunday's game, Grossman isn't far behind. Grossman was spectacular at times this season

and he struggled at other times, and that inconsistency was a seemingly constant topic during the pre-game media sessions this week. A four-year veteran and a 2003 first-round draft choice from the University of Florida, Grossman reached the Super Bowl in his first full season as a starter. He started all 16 games this season, completing 262 of 480 passes for 3,193 yards and 23 touchdowns with 20 interceptions.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH: Three key head-to-heads . . .

1) Bears left tackle John Tait and right tackle Fred Miller versus Colts defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. The Colts have improved in the playoffs stopping the run, and if that continues, the match-up of the Colts' ends and the Bears' tackles will be key. Freeney, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has gotten consistent pressure on quarterbacks throughout the season and has two sacks in three postseason games. Mathis, who led the Colts with 9.5 sacks in the regular season, has 9.5 in the playoffs. The idea for the Colts will be to force the Bears into passing situations, then pressure quarterback Rex Grossman into mistakes.

2) Bears returner Devin Hester versus Colts special teams. This may be one of the most crucial match-ups of the entire season for the Colts. The Colts' coverage units struggled at times, allowing two kickoff returns and one punt return for touchdowns in the regular season, but held Kansas City Chiefs returner Dante Hall - a two-time Pro Bowl selection - under 20 yards a return in the first round of the playoffs. In the AFC Championship Game, the unit allowed critical second-half returns of 80 and 41 yards, but stopped Patriots returner Ellis Hobbs at his own 22 on a kickoff return with just over a minute remaining. That helped secure the Colts' trip to the Super Bowl. Hester, a rookie, made the Pro Bowl this season and set an NFL record with six returns for touchdowns.

3) Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher versus Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Not a true one-on-one match-up, but how the two perennial Pro Bowl selections approach each play likely will be one of the game's intriguing storylines. Much of the Colts' offense depends on Manning's pre-snap reads and audibles, and Urlacher is not only one of the NFL's most gifted players at his position, he makes the Bears' defensive calls at the line of scrimmage. Urlacher is an usually fast middle linebacker for his size, and his ability to defend Colts tight end Dallas Clark in the Bears' Cover 2 defense also could be a crucial match-up.

WHEN THE COLTS HAVE THE BALL: The Colts' offense, which ranked third in the NFL in total yards and second in points scored, has been efficient at times in the playoffs, and at other times, it has been explosive. The efficient part came in the first two and a half games, when the Colts beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 23-8, and the Baltimore Ravens, 15-6. The explosive part came against New England in the AFC Championship Game. After managing two field goals in the second half, the Colts scored 32 points in two quarters against a team that set a franchise-record for fewest points allowed this season. The Bears' defense spent much of the season ranked first in the NFL, and allowed more than 30 points just once in the first 12 games of the season. In the last four games of the regular season, they allowed at least 21 points in each game.

WHEN THE BEARS HAVE THE BALL: To hear Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy tell it, this is as important a match-up as the Colts' high-powered offense against the Bears' highly-ranked defense. The Bears feature a two-running back system - Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones - and they emphasize a strong running back in the hopes of setting up play-action for quarterback Rex Grossman. Although not as publicized as the Colts' offense, the Bears tied with the Colts for the second-most points in the NFL this season with 427 points. The Colts struggled defensively at times in the regular season, finishing last in the NFL in run defense, but in the playoffs, they improved drastically. After allowing 173 yards a game in the regular season, they averaged allowing 73.3 yards a game in three postseason games. They allowed 34 points to New England in the AFC Championship Game, but seven of those points came on an interception return and 10 more came after long kickoff returns. After the Patriots took a 21-3 lead in that game, the Colts held them to 13 points in the final 40 minutes. Cornerback Nick Harper is listed as questionable, and is the only Colts' player whose status is considered uncertain because of injury entering the game.

BEARS VS. THE COLTS: The Bears and Colts have played 39 times, but Super Bowl XLI will be their first postseason meeting. The teams met 31 times before the 1970 NFL Merger, with the teams meeting twice a season from 1953-1966 as members of the Western Conference. The Colts lead the series, 22-17, with five of the meetings coming since the Colts' 1984 move to Indianapolis. The Bears' last victory came on November 5, 2000, when Chicago beat the Colts, 27-24, at Soldier Field in Chicago.

LAST MEETING: The Colts traveled to Chicago on November 21, 2004, beating the Bears, 41-10. That game was part of an eight-game, late-season winning streak that propelled the Colts to their second consecutive AFC South title. The game was played in Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith's first season with the team and Bears Pro Bowl middle linebacker Brian Urlacher didn't play because of injuries. Then-running back Edgerrin James rushed for 204 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries and quarterback Peyton Manning completed 17 of 28 passes for 211 yards and four touchdowns with an interception. Wide receiver Reggie Wayne caught two touchdown passes and wide receiver Marvin Harrison also caught one. - By By John Oehser - Colts.com