"Who's soft now?"

Who's soft now?

Certainly not the Indianapolis Colts. Not a defense that was the worst in the NFL this regular season. Not four defensive linemen and five offensive linemen who completely dominated the "Physical Bears" in the trenches.

Who's a dome team now?

Certainly not those Colts. Not when Peyton Manning disregarded the Miami downpour and made a perfect pass downfield to Reggie Wayne to get Indianapolis on the board. Not running backs Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes who continued to razzle-dazzle all night long, even as the Pro Player Stadium sod became soaked and slippery. Definitely not Adam Vinatieri, who actually missed a field goal, but came back, of course, to make two in the second half to claim his fourth Super Bowl ring.

Peyton Manning may have received the MVP in South Beach Sunday night, but this was the definition of a team effort. An effort by a team completely different from anything we saw between September and January.

Seriously, who are these guys?

The Bears were supposed to be the more physical team, the smash-mouth style team. But instead it was the Colts. Sure, Manning passed for a good chunk of yardage. But the Colts won this game between the trenches.

It is about time the following nine players be mentioned. We talk about Manning 59 times a day. We love to compare Marvin Harrison to Jerry Rice. But these guys deserve a ton of the credit for the Colts second Super Bowl win - and its first since moving to Indy.

The Colts offensive line: Jeff Saturday (C), Tarik Glenn (LT), Ryan Lilja (LG), Jake Scott (RG) and Ryan Diem (RT).

Plus, of course, possibly the most underrated tight end in the NFL: Dallas Clark.

This rarely-talked-about O-line allowed Manning to be sacked just once Sunday night. At the end of the game, despite the condition of the field, Manning's jersey - one, I'm sure, he will hold onto for years to come - was barely dirty.

This O-line allowed the Colts to run for 191 yards against that vaunted Bears defense. Addai and Rhodes ran free into the Chicago secondary all night. Aside from a couple big tackles, Brian Urlacher was unheard from.

Credit the O-line.

On the other side of the ball, these guys need to be mentioned: Robert Mathis (LDE), Anthony McFarland (LT), Raheem Brock (RT) and Dwight Freeney (RDE).

The Bears scored a touchdown on the opening kickoff and one later in the first quarter, which was basically the product of one big Thomas Jones run of 52 yards. In the second half, the Bears got the ball in Colts territory thanks to a good kickoff return and an unnecessary roughness penalty, leading to their final points of the night - a field goal.

So, basically, the Colts defense gave up seven points because of one play. Besides that, they shut down the Bears all night long. That front four hassled Rex Grossman, forcing him into four turnovers (although, Grossman would admit, a couple of the turnovers were simply miscues on his part).

Anyone who picked the Bears before the game (including, I must say, myself) thought Jones and Cedric Benson would wear down the Colts defense. That was far from the story. Aside from Jones' 52-yard saunter, the Colts gave up just 59 yards on the ground. And 165 yards through the air.

It all started up front.

Manning will likely snare all the front pages of this nation's newspapers tomorrow morning. Manning's legacy will be talked about for the next week. There will be plenty of talk about how he compares to other Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.

But this was all about the team. Two years ago, even five months ago, the Colts were a one-dimensional team. Manning and his offense were amazing. The defense was not.

Not anymore. Sunday’s Colts were a well-rounded bunch, with no player needing to stand above the rest.

There are no lingering questions now. No questions about this team's toughness, its resolve. No questions about this team being able to win an ugly, defensive battle.

No, Sunday's victory wasn't pretty. You didn't see a lot of beautiful Manning-to-Harrison hookups. The Colts weren't mistake-free - to the tune of three turnovers.

But, here's a question: Who really cares?

That team you saw dominate almost the entire game was the Indianapolis Colts.

You better believe it.