Don Pierson

During the last two seasons, during which Lovie Smith was proving himself to the Bears, only Tony Dungy's Indianapolis Colts won more games. Smith's Bears won more games than Seattle's...

You have to admire, or at least acknowledge, Lovie Smith for doing it his way. For his sake, you have to hope the Bears dare to offer him a new...

Tony Dungy had so much fun winning his first Super Bowl he virtually promised Monday to come back and try to lead the Indianapolis Colts to another one. Lovie Smith...

The rain on Peyton Manning's Super Bowl parade was a cleansing one this time, washing away every myth and doubt about the Indianapolis Colts, their coach, Tony Dungy, and their...

In Chicago, the Bears win every year whether they win or not. Their grip on the city spans generations and cultures, endures disappointments, and celebrates triumphs great and small. Professional...

If the Bears beat the Colts on Sunday in Super Bowl XLI, they will have beaten a team with more obvious future Hall of Fame players. Quarterback Peyton Manning and...

Two paradoxical questions dominated the theme of Roger Goodell's first Super Bowl news conference as commissioner of the NFL. One was about the number of unsavory off-field incidents that damage...

Mike Ditka is angry. You could tell when he started by saying, "We're not trying to bust anybody's back or embarrass anybody." Then he did his darnedest to embarrass the...

The Bears and Colts are alike by design more than coincidence, and one of the designers is Rusty Jones. Jones is the Bears' strength-and-conditioning coordinator. His former assistant with the...

Peyton Manning's first encounter with the Bears was as a 4-year-old. "I was at the Pro Bowl in 1980 and my parents couldn't find me for, like, three hours," he...