SUPER BOWL 41: GOOD FOR PEYTON MANNING, BUT HIS TRIUMPH WAS A LITTLE EYE-GLAZING

Two weeks after he had to go gunslinger in the AFC title game, Peyton Manning was back to his old self in last night's Super Bowl, leading the Indianapolis Colts offence like a man conducting some seminar in risk management.

Whenever Manning was throwing one of those umpteen dinky checkdown passes he completed to rookie running back Joseph Addai (143 combined yards on 28 touches, but none for more than 14 yards), it was like Corporate America was seeing itself in action. But hey, how else do you expect a professional quarterback to move the ball in all that rain against a Chicago Bears defence that thrives on takeaways?

It wasn't terribly sexy or riveting, but the Colts easily handled the Bears 29-17 in Blunder Bowl II (try eight turnovers) at rain-soaked Dolphins Stadium in Miami. All in all, it was pretty anticlimactic. First off, Manning probably won over a ton of doubting fans when he outgunned Tom Brady and New England 38-34 to get the Colts to the Super Bowl.

(UPDATE, 1:43 p.m.: Slate's Robert Weintraub writes of Manning, "You'll never see a more unassuming MVP performance. I can't recall a most valuable player in any championship game in any sport who didn't make a single great play.")

Secondly, by the second quarter last night it was plainly obvious that QB Rex Grossman and the Bears offence belonged on the big stage about as much as your average high school production of Guys and Dolls. (Does that mean Chicago should say hello to Jeff Garcia next year? Maybe.)

Once Indy overcame some early miscues and went ahead 16-14 late in the first half, the prefab story about Manning finally winning the big one was all but written, although officially it had to wait until backup DB Kelvin Hayden returned his first career interception 56 yards for Indianapolis' clinching touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

By the way, it's supposed to feel like minus-40 Celsius this morning in Ottawa. There's no word yet on the wind chill factor in hell now that a Manning has finally won a championship.

How close to the vest did the Colts play it? At one point they even ran the ball on third-and-goal from the 10-yard line and settled for a short field goal, rather than risk a turnover. Chicago only trailed by five points entering the fourth quarter, but never had a sustained drive that suggested they were capable of pulling the upset, meaning it added up to a game that just filled the gaps between commercials. Not terribly enthralling, kind of banal, but that's Peyton Manning for you.

One last word: No one will realize it thanks largely to all the tackles the NFC's No. 1 defence missed in the slippery conditions, but it was semi-halfway miraculous that the Colts were held to less than 30 points, since Chicago was on the field the whole game. A Chicago great in another sport, Ernie Banks, was fond of saying, "Let's play two." The Bears D practically did -- Indianapolis ran 81 plays.

The liveblog has been shifted over to Sportpages.com, but here's some not-so-humbly selected highlights.

First quarter

Hey, is Vikings coach Brad Childress calling Chicago's plays? Bears have a short pass, a left-side run for zilch, and on third-and-4, they throw a 20-yard pass that falls incomplete. Indy takes over at its own 20.

Nice to know Jim Gaffigan is being a Trojan horse for pale uber-WASPy guys with a dry sense of humour and no apparent charisma. Damn, it's rainy.

Second quarter

Well, that's appropriate. We just had a commercial where a football announcer exclaimed, "Fumble!"

Third quarter

Third-and-7 at the Indy 25. Grossman, under pressure, pocket collapsing, dips, ducks, dodges, he's moving like Doug Flutie, the entire city of Chicago is on it feet ready for the real Rex Grossman they've waited for so long for to deliver the big strike...

... and tight end Desmond Clark, the intended receiver (although with Grossman, you're never quite sure) has to turn into a defender to save the Bears from another turnover. That pretty much serves to sum up Chicago's offence tonight.

Fourth quarter

And Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy have each made one bad challenge... Do these coaches have anything else in common?

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.