After Reggie Bush blew past defenders on an 88-yard touchdown to make the score 16-14, Bears fans had a dreadful feeling that their dream of seeing DA BEARS in the Super Bowl was slipping away.

The Bears’ offense had stalled, and after dominating most of the first half of the game, the defense couldn’t stop the Saints’ offense. But at the end of Bush’s run, he made a boneheaded move that probably turned the game around. Bush turned and pointed at Brian Urlacher at the end of his run and taunted him before doing a flip into the end zone, and performing an added dance to boot.

Reggie, Reggie, Reggie. Huge rookie mistake! Taunting is fine when you are up by 25 and the game is out of reach, but don’t taunt the other team’s best defensive player and leader when your team is still down by three.

As many Bears defenders stated after the game, Bush’s antics lit a fire under the seats of the defense. It provided a struggling unit with motivation, and the defense was able to stifle the Saints for the rest of the game. Then, when the Bears’ other half started clicking, the fairy tale season was all over for the New Orleans Saints.

Not only did this victory send the Bears to the Super Bowl, it silenced the critics who doubted the Bears all season long. The win also gave confidence to a fan base which was fearing the worst.

Out of all the ESPN talking heads, only Da Coach had the Bears beating the Saints, which proves what all Bears fans know – Da Coach is by far the smartest man analyzing football today. The rest of the so-called football experts were too wrapped up in the mediocre play of Rex Grossman.

The Bears’ defensive line, which everyone said could not generate pressure without All-Pro Tommie Harris, harassed Drew Brees the entire game. The secondary, which everyone said could not slow the Saints’ passing game without All-Pro safety Mike Brown, made plays all over the field.

The Bears built a 16-0 lead over the Saints even though Grossman had only completed a measly three passes for 40 yards. The difference in this game and prior games is that the Bears defense was able to cause turnovers, as they did early in the season. The Bears, who led the league in takeaways and points off turnovers during the regular season, have traveled this far because they are the best in the business at causing turnovers.

Add to that a solid running game with the 1-2 punch of Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson, and you have the essence of the Bears team. The Bears only get into trouble when Grossman has to lead the team from behind because the Bears are built to be a grind-it-out football team, not a high flying aerial attack.

All Grossman is asked to do is not turn the ball over, and he has proven he can do that in the last two games. The Bears might be seven-point underdogs against the Colts, but the Colts are a flawed team, whose weak run defense will be tested by the Bears. The talking heads will probably say that the defense can’t stop Peyton Manning and the Colts’ high-powered offense, but they said the Bears couldn’t stop the Saints either, and look how that turned out.

Majesh Abraham is a senior in LAS. He can be reached at [email protected].