“The challenge is winning a championship, and understanding that we’re playing a great Indianapolis team. It’s been a long time since you look at the Super Bowl and here sit the two No. 1 seeds. The two teams that were unbeaten for 90 percent of the season until the end, here they are with an opportunity to play for the championship, so that’s exciting.’’
Yes, it is, and Payton had the facts down, and we can add to them.
The last time the top seeds played in the Super Bowl was in 1993, when the Bills and Cowboys faced off for a second straight year.
This year, Peyton Manning was selected as the Associated Press’s All-Pro quarterback, with Drew Brees on the second team, so this is the first time two AP All-Pro QBs have clashed in the Super Bowl since 1991, when Jim Kelly’s Bills faced Mark Rypien’s Redskins.
Then there’s the way these teams dominated such a large part of the season. Before this year, only five teams started 13-0 - the 1934 Bears, the ’72 Dolphins, the ’98 Broncos, the ’05 Colts, and the ’07 Patriots. In Week 14, the Saints and Colts became sixth and seventh on the list.
Want a marquee matchup on Super Bowl Sunday? You have it all here. The best teams. The best quarterbacks. Teams that have chased history and now get to chase some more.
It didn’t take long, either, for Colts coach Jim Caldwell to shift his focus to what’s at stake. On Sunday night, Caldwell went out to dinner with his family, and watched the NFC Championship game casually. At least casual to start with, and then things changed.
“I started analyzing that game just like I was working,’’ Caldwell said. “It doesn’t take long. All of a sudden, you see what problems you may have, what problems may occur. It doesn’t take long for us to get focused on that next ballgame.’’
So when Caldwell thinks back to Super Bowl XLI - he was a Colts assistant for that championship team - what sticks with him is that when you win on that stage, you can savor it.
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