February 4, 2007: Super Bowl XLI is played at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. It remains the only Super Bowl ever played in rain, which fell throughout the game. The result was 8 turnovers, including 5 lost fumbles.
The Chicago Bears were in the big game for the 1st time since their dominant season of 1985-86. The Indianapolis Colts were in it for the 1st time since they were the Baltimore Colts, 36 years earlier.
Chicago and Indianapolis are the two closest cities, geographically, to ever play each other in a Super Bowl, separated by 182 miles, mostly of Interstate 65. Colts coach Tony Dungy, who won 2 Super Bowls as a Pittsburgh Steeler defensive back, joked that the game should be moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. A better location, roughly halfway between the cities, would have been Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, home of Purdue University.
The hype was that it was a battle between the Bears' speedy rookie return man, Devin Hester, and the Colts' quarterback, Peyton Manning. Hester was going home: He was from Riviera Beach, Florida, and starred at the University of Miami, although he grew up as a Dallas Cowboys fan. He had returned 3 punts and 2 kickoffs for touchdowns, and had 1,128 total return yards.
Over 4 years at the University of Tennessee, Manning went 8-4, 11-1, 10-2 and 11-2. He won the Gator Bowl as a freshman, and won the Citrus Bowl as a sophomore and a junior. He finally led the Volunteers to the Southeastern Conference title in his senior year, 1997, but they lost the Orange Bowl, and thus a shot at the National Championship. All 4 seasons, Tennessee lost to Florida. To make matters worse for Manning, the next season, 1998, quarterback Tee Martin led them to the National Championship.
Manning was the Number 1 pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, and got the Colts to the Playoffs in only his 2nd season. But, just as he couldn't get the Vols all the way, especially past the Florida Gators, he couldn't get the Colts to the Super Bowl, with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots being particularly in the way. The Colts lost the 2003 AFC Championship Game and the 2004 AFC Divisional Playoff, to the Patriots. Manning was on the verge of becoming the most clutch-failing quarterback since Dan Marino.
Finally, in 2006, the Colts went 12-4, beat the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens in the Playoffs, and, finally having home-field advantage for the AFC Championship Game, beat the Patriots, 38-34. One big reason the Colts did so well is that they'd signed the Patriots' great kicker, Adam Vinatieri, as a free agent.
The Bears were coached by Lovie Smith -- that's not a nickname, he was born Lovie Lee Smith -- who had been an All-American linebacker at the University of Tulsa. He never played in the pros, and went straight into coaching. When Dungy was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Smith was his linebackers coach. This would be the 1st time both Super Bowl teams had a black head coach, so the winner would be the 1st black head coach to win an NFL Championship.
Hester returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. The Colts struck back when Manning threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne, but punter Hunter Smith fumbled the snap on the extra point, and Vinatieri missed the kick. It was 7-6 Colts, and there was already a feeling that this one point would end up mattering. Later in the 1st quarter, the Bears extended their lead to 14-6, when Rex Grossman threw a touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad.
The Colts took over, with their defense converting 3 Bears punts and a fumble into a touchdown run by Dominic Rhodes and 3 field goals by Vinatieri. It was 22-14 late in the 3rd quarter. But Robbie Gould kicked a field goal to bring the Bears to within 22-17 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Vinatieri had also missed a field goal attempt just before halftime. The man had kicked 2 Super Bowl-winning field goals for the Pats, but would his 4 missed points make the difference against the Colts? No: With 11:44 to go, Grossman threw a pass that was intercepted by Kelvin Hayden, and returned 56 yards for a touchdown. Final score: Colts 29, Bears 17.
It was the 1st League Championship won by an Indiana-based team since the Indiana Pacers won the 1973 ABA title. It was the 1st World Championship won by an Indianapolis-based team, and the 1st title that could be called a "World Championship" won by an Indiana-based team since the Fort Wayne Pistons won back-to-back titles in the National Basketball League in 1944 and 1945.
For the Bears, it was more frustration: The NFL's founding franchise has won 9 NFL Championship Games, including Super Bowl XX, more than any team except the Green Bay Packers; but it was also their 5th loss in a title game. Through the 2021 season, they haven't won a title in 35 years, they've won just 1 title in 58 years, and only 2 titles in 75 years.
Manning had won the title that had previously eluded both him and his father, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning. He had gotten the validation he needed: He was no longer a great quarterback who made great TV commercials but couldn't go all the way, either in college or the pros. He had won the title that had eluded Marino.
The next year, his brother, Eli Manning, would quarterback the New York Giants to a Super Bowl win over the Patriots. Two years after that, Peyton led the Colts back into the Super Bowl, but lost to the Saints. Two years after that, Eli led the Giants to another Super Bowl win over the Patriots. Two years after that, Peyton went to the Denver Broncos, losing a Super Bowl to the Seattle Seahawks. Two years after that, Peyton led the Broncos to win one over the Carolina Panthers, then retired.
The Colts have a Ring of Honor. From their founding era, before Manning, 1984 to 1997, they have inducted founding owner Robert Irsay, head coach Ted Marchibroda, quarterback Jim Harbaugh, running backs Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk, receiver Bill Brooks, and offensive tackle Chris Hinton. From Manning's early career, but before the Super Bowl win, they have inducted running back Edgerrin James.
From their Super Bowl XLI winners, they have inducted owner Jim Irsay, general manager Bill Polian, head coach Tony Dungy, quarterback Peyton Manning, receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, tight end Dallas Clark, center Jeff Saturday, offensive tackle Tarik Glenn, and defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. They have also honored their fans, as "The 12th Man." Jim Irsay, Polian, Manning, Wayne, Clark, Saturday, Freeney and Mathis were also members of their team that lost Super Bowl XLIV.
The Irsays, Harbaugh, Hinton, Faulk, Dungy, Manning, Harrison and Wayne have also been inducted into the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame. So has Adam Vinatieri, whose kicking hurt the Colts for the New England Patriots, before the Patriots let him go and he was able to help the Colts. So has Mark Herrmann, the Colts' last starting quarterback in Baltimore and their 1st starting quarterback in Indianapolis, although it was mainly for his performance at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. So has Andrew Luck, the greatest Colt quarterback since Manning.
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February 4, 2007 was, like all Super Bowl days, a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 101-99 in overtime at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands. Joe Johnson scored 37 points for the Hawks.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 122-110 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* And the Detroit Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 90-78 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
And there were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Sheldon Souray scored the winning goal with 2:59 left in overtime.
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