Sports Notes, 2/4/07 -- Super Bowl Edition

It would be easy to knock out a dry recitation of why the BEARS – or the Colts – will win this game.

The BEARS could establish the run and keep the ball out of Peyton Manning’s hands; Manning could exploit an injury-depleted secondary for four touchdowns; Devin Hester could make a pale mockery of Indy’s porous kick coverage; Rex Grossman could throw an interception on every play from scrimmage; Manning has been waiting his whole career for this moment; Brian Urlacher deserves it just as much and has waited almost as long; Indy is 5-0 and the BEARS 3-2 in the regular season against common opponents; but the BEARS have a much higher margin of victory in those games – even when the losses are figured in.

See? Not that hard.

But seasons like this don’t come along every year.

As a long-suffering Chicago sports fan, I’ve learned in my many, many seasons to appreciate the successes when you find them. Other than the brief, beautiful Michael Jordan interlude, our town has had a mostly sleepy sports history for nearly 50 years now.

So this season is one to savor. Win or lose today, I will always remember …

-- Shutting out Brett Favre and the Packers in Lambeau Field.

-- Brian Urlacher willing to team all the way back from a 20-point second-half deficit against the Cardinals.

-- Devin Hester sandbagging the Giants and returning a failed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown.

-- Clinching the NFC North on a BEAR-weather day against the Vikings.

-- Running up quick scores off of turnovers to hit the 40-point mark on consecutive weeks.

-- Rex Grossman silencing the critics with a convincing win over St. Louis.

-- Robbie Gould kicking an overtime field goal that would have been good from 57 yards to get past the Seahawks in the playoffs.

-- Thomas Jones’ wild celebration after scoring a touchdown on his eighth straight run to put the BEARS in control against the Saints.

-- Bernard Berrian’s tumbling, leaping, circus catches on long bombs from Grossman.

-- Ricky Manning Jr. picking off Matt Hasselbeck twice in a resounding defeat of the defending NFC champion Seahawks.

-- An aggressive defense asserting its will to lead the league in takeaways, and the quickness with which it could switch its mentality afterwards from preventing a score to creating one.

After everything played itself out, it turned out that the BEARS are who WE thought they were: Super Bowl-worthy. Today we find out if the BEARs are who we hope they are: Super Bowl champs.