Super story, a bitter end for Bears, fans

Inability to keep offense on field is what finally finishes Bears

MIAMI -- The heat will keep coming for Rex Grossman.

But it's too easy to single him out for failure on football's greatest stage. In the first season he was able to remain healthy, the fourth-year quarterback guided the Bears to Super Bowl XLI on Sunday at Dolphin Stadium. It's just that his Indianapolis Colts counterpart, Peyton Manning, was too good in what amounted to a high-stakes game of keepaway.

The Bears had talked since the beginning of their season, way back last spring, about finishing. Problem is, you can't finish what you don't start, and they never got going on offense, squandering an early eight-point lead in a 29-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts before a soaked pro-Bears crowd of 74,512.

Grossman -- who was cool under pressure in the week leading up to the game and gentlemanly while being scrutinized all season -- now will have a full offseason to deal with more scrutiny after he committed three of the Bears' five turnovers, getting picked off twice in the fourth quarter and fumbling earlier.

''A frustrating loss,'' he said. ''There were definitely opportunities for us to take that game, and we didn't do it. We never got any kind of rhythm. All I feel is disappointment.''

Still, he stood at his locker late into the night, calmly answering questions. He will be able to say he had a 15-4 record. But he will see how the pressure mounts to win the big one. Just remember what Manning went through in getting here.

''We were playing in the Super Bowl to win,'' guard Ruben Brown said. ''Sounds like a good start to a career to me. People have been riding him all year. It's not going to stop, but it's unnecessary.''

Grossman wound up 20-for-28 for 165 yards, including a four-yard scoring toss to Muhsin Muhammad, but the Bears never took control of the game with their highly paid offensive line. If it was going to be won, it was going to be done in the trenches. Thomas Jones piled up 112 yards, but 52 came on one burst to set up the Muhammad score and stake the Bears to a 14-6 first-quarter lead.

With 15 possessions, the Bears could manage only 48 plays, while the Colts had 81. That's how they racked up 191 rushing yards behind 113 from Dominic Rhodes and 77 from Joseph Addai. Manning, who was named the Most Valuable Player, was 25-for-38 for 247 yards. He had a 53-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne but mostly dissected the Bears with short stuff in keeping the ball for more than 38 minutes. In one stretch spanning the second and third quarters, the Colts ran 23 of 24 plays.

Now Manning's legacy among the greatest of all time can be debated.

''I don't think there's anything you can say now, other than this guy is a Hall of Fame player and one of the greatest players to ever play the game,'' said Colts coach Tony Dungy, who became the first black coach to lead a team to a Super Bowl championship, a significant historical step for the sport that was guaranteed with his good friend Lovie Smith leading the Bears.

You can say, however, that the large shadow cast by the 1985 Bears still looms over their franchise. Until they win the big one again, that group will be the focus of many. No one remembers Super Bowl losers, after all.

Devin Hester staked the seven-point underdogs to a 7-0 lead in a matter of 14 seconds with a 92-yard kickoff return. When Chris Harris intercepted Manning on the next possession, it looked like the Bears just might be the team of destiny they have talked about being.

''We knew with their offense, we were going to have to score some points,'' Smith said. ''They were able to make some big plays on us.''

For all of the Bears' faults, they were still one play away from taking the lead in the fourth quarter. Down 22-17 with 12 minutes remaining, Grossman tried to execute a double move on fill-in cornerback Kelvin Hayden, a Hubbard High School and University of Illinois product who was replacing injured Nick Harper.

Hayden didn't bite, and Grossman threw toward Muhsin Muhammad anyway. The ball floated, and Hayden picked it off, then weaved down the sideline 56 yards for a touchdown.

On the next possession, Bernard Berrian was streaking open across the field, but Grossman underthrew him and Bob Sanders intercepted. Remember, though, this was the worst run defense in the league, and the Bears simply never pounded that undersized front.

''We just lost the Super Bowl,'' center Olin Kreutz said. ''You can say you had a great year and all that stuff, but losing hurts so much and it's hard to say all those things.''

The taste of defeat intrigued cornerback Charles Tillman. He lingered on the field to watch the Colts hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

''I wanted to see what it looked like,'' he said. ''Because I obviously don't know what it feels like. I have a completely different feeling inside. Disappointment is my personal trainer.''

bbiggs@suntimes.com