Sunday Pick 'Em: Super Bowl

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Sunday is fast approaching and Express' Chris Mincher files his last Sunday Pick 'Em for the season.

WELL, HERE IT is folks. The Big One. The One Game to End Them All (For This Season). The best against the best. Indianapolis Colts (15-4) -6.5 v. Chicago Bears (15-3). And if you people out there aren't excited, shame on you. Though I do understand some of the problems have with getting into the match-up, among those being:

» Whether they like him or not, people are tired of seeing the face of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning', at right, plastered on every third ad on television — the idea of having to stare at him continuously for four hours is pleasing to no one. Especially when every time the Colts offense takes the field, viewers instinctively switch into MasterCard commercial mode and subconsciously expect little labels to pop up saying how much stuff costs.

» Watching Bears quarterback Rex Grossman pass the football is like watching a eggplants being wobbly projected out of a slingshot.

» Both teams have tandem running-back combos, meaning you always end up cheering loudly and giving your personal analysis for the wrong guy. ("What a run! I've been saying all night that the Colts should run it outside with Joseph Addai!" "Dude, that was Dominic Rhodes." "Oh. Well, him too.")

» It is impossible to care which coach wins. Both Lovie Smith of the Bears and Tony Dungy of the Colts are personality-devoid robots who are as unfamiliar with emotion as they are with space travel. It's like asking which Easter Island stone figure is more compelling.

However, there's some undiscovered intrigue that will make this game more interesting than you might think. For the Colts, which defense will we see? During the regular season, opposing offenses blew their defense apart each week like Lite Brites in Boston. And you could play tic-tac-toe with steak knives on the bottom of a CD of whale sounds and still get more rhythm than the Colts running backs will against a tough Bears defense.

On the other hand, the Bears passing attack simply cannot be trusted. When the ball leaves Grossman's hands, you'd have an easier time guessing where a rapidly deflating balloon will land. While the Colts will bend against the hammering Bears running attack by making key interceptions and disrupting anything airborne, they'll stubbornly keep Chicago out of the end zone.

Meanwhile, the Indianapolis passing game at this point is like a car so comfortably reliable you haven't bothered to remember the mileage on it for years. You take it for granted, and rarely stop to think how remarkable it is that it still runs this efficiently after all this time. And when Manning, wide receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, and tight end Dallas Clark go through the motions, the offense rides as smoothly down the field as those effortless highway miles. The Bears have a great defense, but the Colts' passing attack is a machine with no exposed gears to throw a wrench into.

In the end, this Super Bowl is going to be about which team has the best connections downfield. And the Bears are going to get tangled up in the wires. COLTS BY 1.

LAST ROUND:
AGAINST THE SPREAD: 1-1
OVERALL: 1-1

SEASON:
AGAINST THE SPREAD: 142-126
OVERALL: 159-107

Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images