The conference championships did not disappoint. The cold and snow brought alive the Chicago Bears and their rabid fans in the early game. And the perhaps overly heated RCA Dome cooked an exhausted New England Patriots defense leaving them ripe for Peyton Manning's picking in the late game. Super Bowl XLI features the Colts and Bears, for which we'll have plenty to discuss over and over again, so let's take a look back at some of this past weekend's numbers.
1 - Number of quarterbacks that avoided the interception in the conference championship games. It wasn't Drew Brees. It wasn't Tom Brady. And it wasn't Peyton Manning. The mistake-free QB on Sunday was none other than Rex Grossman. He avoided mistakes like the plague, and thanks to a great performance from his offensive line, he avoided sacks and fumbles as well.
88 - Number of receiving yards Reggie Bush totaled up when he caught a little flare pass up the sidelines on Saints designed pick play. The rookie made one phenomenal cutback across the Bears safeties but as he headed towards the end zone, he made one phenomenal rookie mistake by pointing back at Brian Urlacher and taunting the Bears defense. He then went on to do an unnecessary somersault across the goal line, rose to his feet, and performed a seemingly prolonged and rehearsed dance in front of the Soldier Field faithful. Some argue that professional athletes shouldn't need additional motivation in a conference championship game, but Bush provided the Bears defense with plenty. The Saints cut the lead to 16-14 at that point, but they were still losing. And mind you, Mr. Urlacher and company didn't allow a single point afterwards.
8 - Number of plays in the Bears second quarter touchdown drive, which put them up 16-0. Thing is, Thomas Jones carried the football on all eight plays for 69 yards and the TD. Talk about running it down their throat.
21 - Points scored by the Chicago Bears in the fourth quarter of Sunday's NFC Championship win over the New Orleans Saints. That mark set a conference championship record for points in the fourth quarter. Once the Bears smelled blood, they really poured it on both defensively and offensively.
32 - While the Colts fell short of the Bears 21 points in the fourth quarter, Peyton Manning and company did put up a 17-spot en route to scoring a conference championship record 32 points in the second half. It was a magical night for the Manning and the Colts as they finally got the best of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady in the big game on the big stage.
57.1 - Percentage of punts that Bears punter Brad Maynard dropped inside the 20-yard line against the Saints. Four of his seven punts pinned the Saints offense deep inside their own territory, and one led to that critical safety. Special teams can be huge in the playoffs, and Maynard is one of the Bears unsung heroes.
880 - Combined roster weight of the three linemen who found paydirt in Sunday's AFC Championship game. The nonsense all started when Patriots offensive lineman Logan Mankins recovered a Laurence Maroney fumbled handoff in the end zone. Dan Klecko, Colts defensive lineman and goal line receiver extraordinaire snagged a Manning pass in the second half. And Manning's center Jeff Saturday capped off a bizarre trend in Sunday's game by recovering a Dominic Rhodes fumble in the end zone for his own big score. Kudos to the guys who fight in the trenches but rarely get the glory.
100 - Percent of field goals and extra points kicked and made for Adam Vinatieri this postseason. The guy continues to be the big money man. He nailed three more field goals in Sunday's conference championship against his old team, and he'll be playing in another Super Bowl come February 4th.
12-2 - Tom Brady and Bill Belichick's playoff record even after losing to the Colts in the AFC Championship game on Sunday. With three rings on their fingers, those numbers speak for themselves.
46,700,000 - Approximate number of people that tuned in to the AFC Championship game Sunday evening. With the Manning and Brady drama hyped all week, it was a game for the ages, and the NFL's fans tuned in. So many people haven't watched a single television broadcast since last year's Super Bowl.
43,200,000 - Average number of people that watched the NFC Championship on Sunday. It didn't beat out the prime time telecast the AFC had, but that number was good for the highest rating for an NFC Conference Championship in 10 years. In Chicago, the game got a 74 share, which means that roughly three quarters the households in Chicago were tuned into the game, which begs the question: What else were people in the Windy City watching that afternoon?
Got questions or comments? Send them to pete@petekhazen.com.