Manning picks apart Bears

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MIAMI -- Prince electrified Dolphin Stadium on Sunday night by finishing his halftime music set with "Purple Rain." That was sandwiched between Peyton Manning and the Colts' version of the Blue Reign.

AP Photo/Amy SancettaPeyton Manning admires the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning the Super Bowl.

Less than a half hour after his team put up 430 yards of offense on the great Bears defense, Manning, the perfectionist, accepted his first Super Bowl win by consistently calling it a "team victory" and vowed to use this Super Bowl experience to become a better quarterback. One of the greatest quarterbacks of our time already has started to think about winning another Super Bowl.

Just the threat of Manning beat the Bears on Sunday night. Safeties Chris Harris and Danieal Manning played roughly three-quarters of the game in a Cover 2 defense about 18 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Often, Bears linebackers dropped into coverage. Like so many teams that play Manning, Chicago was worried about him burning them for the long pass.

But what teams still fail to realize is that preventing Manning from throwing the ball deep actually plays into his hands. He loves picking apart defenses with the short pass. With the steady rain Sunday, Manning actually preferred to throw shorter, more controlled passes.

"Obviously, the passing game wasn't going to be as sharp with the weather," he said.

Top of the Super Bowl class
Manning MVP Peyton Manning joined the list of quarterbacks who were drafted first overall to win the Super Bowl in their first appearance.
Quarterback	Drafted	First SB
Peyton Manning, IND	1998	XLI
Troy Aikman, DAL	1989	XXVII
Jim Plunkett, OAK	1971	XV
Terry Bradshaw, PIT	1970	IX

In some ways, this game fit the season profile of this year's Colts. They did it the hard way. Sure, Indianapolis jumped out to a 9-0 start this season, but the team struggled with injuries down the stretch and ended up the AFC's third seed, forcing three tough playoff games.

"In the past when our team's come up short, it's been disappointing," Manning said. "Somehow, we found a way to have learned from those bad losses, and we've been a better team because of it. As disappointing as the playoff loss was last year to Pittsburgh, the veteran guys got together and learned from it and felt we were a better team this year and maybe stronger for it. It's nice when you put a lot of hard work to cap it off with a championship."

It was fun sitting in Dolphin Stadium watching Manning go through his routine well before the game. About two hours before kickoff, he and assistant head coach Jim Caldwell were seen kneeling at the 10-yard line, going over their final strategies. After that, he started working his passing tree routines with Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and others.

"He was doing his routine," offensive coordinator Tom Moore said. " … [Caldwell] and Peyton will sit there and go over a few things. Jim Caldwell does a tremendous job, and he and Peyton have a great relationship. Peyton is focused every game. He doesn't take anything for granted."

Upon Further Review

Manning Our experts offer their take on Super Bowl XLI's MVP and the turning point of the game. Mark Schlereth MVP: Peyton Manning Turning point: Peyton Manning's touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne in the first quarter was the turning point of the game for me. It was a great way to answer Devin Hester's opening kickoff return and gave the Colts the confidence to keep chipping away against a great defense. If the Bears had been able to stop them on that drive, this could've been an entirely different game. Ron Jaworski MVP: Peyton Manning Turning point: The Reggie Wayne touchdown reception in the first quarter was the turning point for the Colts. That touchdown was a piercing shot in the Bears' confidence. This defense doesn't like to give up the big play, and after a big special-teams touchdown, it was hunkering down and hoping to put up a great performance. Instead, the Colts scored on a big play and had the Bears reeling. Joe Theismann MVP: Peyton Manning Turning point: Kelvin Hayden's interception return for a touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter sealed this game. Rex Grossman didn't have to make that pass, but once he did, Hayden smartly dropped off Muhsin Muhammad and went after the ball. His footwork to stay in bounds at the beginning of the interception was spectacular, and he then willed himself into the end zone.

"That's why you're kind of glad to have a veteran center like Jeff Saturday," Manning said. "I don't know how many snaps we took together. The Bears had a couple of exchange problems. Jeff and I never had any exchange problems, and that was nice. We were really trying to protect the ball."

This might have been the greatest job of keep-away in Super Bowl history. There was a stretch from the 9:14 mark of the second quarter into the third quarter in which the Colts ran 32 of 36 plays. At one point, the Colts had 65 plays to just 23 for the Bears. Overall, the Colts ran 81 plays to 48 for the Bears.

Although the Bears' defense might have been content holding Harrison (five catches for 59 yards) and Wayne (only two catches) relatively in check, Manning was still able to pick the Bears apart. He completed 10 passes to halfback Joseph Addai and worked short passes all day. When he'd catch the Bears in a Cover 1 defense, he'd run the ball.

Instead of killing the Bears with the quick strike, he destroyed them the slow, methodical way. Because of the weather, he and Tony Dungy -- who got his first Super Bowl win as a coach -- were cautious in the red zone and settled for field goals. Although he wasn't asked to kick a game winner, Adam Vinatieri made three of four field goals.

The play that turned the momentum in the game came with 6:50 left in the first quarter. Manning is so good that if you make any mistake, he is going to exploit it, and the Bears made a big blunder that allowed Wayne to get open for a 53-yard touchdown reception to cut the Bears' lead to 7-6.

"The touchdown pass was something that we kind of put in for this week," Manning said. "It was kind of an end pump route. I think they busted the coverage. I think it was supposed to be a Cover 2 and the safety [Chris Harris] played man-to-man. Without the pump route, Reggie would have been open. But the main thing is you have to buy some time because you had to hold the ball. I was glad I was able to get the ball out of my hands."

Manning was a master surgeon on Sunday. For now, Manning is off to the Pro Bowl, but his plan is to return to Indianapolis in March to start working on next season.

"We're going to work in March, and we're going to be better because of this," Manning said.

The Blue Reign started in Miami on Sunday night, and it might be just the beginning.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

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John Clayton

NFL senior writer

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• Senior NFL writer and commentator
• Joined ESPN in 1995
• Member of the writers' wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio