Chicago Bears

#TBT: Bears-Colts brings back memories of a Purple Rainy Super Bowl XLI

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:02 p.m. ET

Barry Werner

The Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts enter Sunday's game with matching 1-3 records -- a far cry from where the teams were 10 years ago at this time, which was on a collision course to meet in Super Bowl XLI.

Sunday will mark only the third Colts-Bears meeting since that game, making it a perfect time to look back at a Super Bowl best known for being played in the rain -- and for its halftime show, performed by a music legend.

“The morning of the game I opened the curtains from my hotel room and it was like a scene from Moby Dick,” Bruce Rodgers, design producer of halftime show, said in an NFL documentary interview. “The winds were blowing the palm trees. The rain was one of those Miami rainstorms that would not relent.”

Sitting in a production truck outside the stadium, Super Bowl XLI halftime show producer Don Mischer called Prince to gauge the situation. "I want you to know it's raining," he told the star. "Are you okay?"

Then after a moment, to the surprise and excitement of everyone in the vehicle, Prince responded, "Can you make it rain harder?"

At halftime Prince came out in a splendid outfit, perfectly color coordinated to where the game was played, at the home of the Miami Dolphins.

The weather, though, did create a problem for the players, according to then-Bears linebacker and special teams demon Brendon Ayanbadejo.

“The hard thing about that game was the drastic change in temperature from the start to the end,” he said this week. “Going from hot to hotter or cold to colder is easier. This game went from hot to kind of cold.

“It started in the 80s and went to the 50s. The only game I can ever be remember being not ready for the cold. Once you are playing and the temp drops 15 to 20 degrees, that's enough to make it miserable.”

“The dome team handled it better than the outdoor team. We had turnovers and we had trouble handling the ball.”

Like the weather, the Bears got off to a hot start as Devin Hester returned the opening kick for a touchdown.

"We talked about it last night," then-Colts coach Tony Dungy told reporters after the game. 'There will be some storms we might have to weather.' Well, we didn't panic."

That was one of the few highlights for the Bears, as Peyton Manning and the Colts went on to a 29-17 victory.

Manning completed 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards with one touchdown. The Colts dominated the Bears on the ground, as Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai combined for 190 of Indy's 191 rushing yards.

The Colts' defense pitched in, picking off two Rex Grossman passes, one of which Kelvin Hayden returned 56 yards for a touchdown.

"I was just thinking about getting into the end zone," Hayden said of his score that made it 29-14. "We stepped up the whole postseason where we just made the plays and the defense buckled down."

One thing is for certain: Both franchises would give anything to be back on that same stage this February, but even the winner of Sunday's game will have a lot of ground to cover to make that happen.