Super Bowl X

With their least dominant roster in franchise history, the Chunky Monkeys had the easiest championship run in recent memory. Facing no real hurdles heading into the playoffs, the Monkeys dismantled both of their playoff foes by scoring 120+ the last two weeks. Oh what a difference a(nother) ring makes. The discussion for "Best Team in CTDB History" is now re-opened with Evan's second Super Bowl win -- their first win was four years ago -- and he's going to be able to make a great case for number one. In fact, after last year's title collapse, when we named the underdog Gang Green "Team of the Decade," we may have to take that moniker back. But before we talk about history, let's take a look at the championship game that was dubbed "The Big Bowl of China," but played out more like "The Little Fight of Taiwan."

Drawing first blood, Jimmy's tenacious Fobsters had three Cowboys combine for 24 points Saturday afternoon (TE Jason Witten, K David Buehler, Cowboys D). Before the game, our sideline reporter talked to Coach Jimmy, who was considering starting a fourth Cowboy, RB Tashard Choice, before he opted to spread his roster around and inserted veteran Niners' RB, Brian Westbrook. That turned out to be a wise move, as Choice only accrued three points.

The Fobsters had high hopes of a gigantic upset heading into the week, as they matched up decently well with the Monkeys, despite lacking a slight edge at every position. Their biggest worry pre-matchup was the Monkeys' Philip Rivers, who would be facing a soft Bengals defense. Rivers had only five points heading into his fourth quarter, and that should have been great news for Jimmy. Instead, they were already so far in the hole that having Rivers eventually settle into 16 points for the week was just another kick to the groin. Behind Jamaal Charles and Dwayne Bowe's 25 and 24 points (plus Brandon Marshall's 10 receptions and 102 yards), Evan had already sewn up the championship by early evening. Ironically, it was the hometown Chargers' poor defense that let the two Chiefs run wild, and gave Evan the huge edge. So despite a sub-par performance by Rivers, this game was all but decided by 4pm Sunday.

What really hurt Jimmy was his own roster, which really needed to step up in this time of need. Tom Brady did his part with three passing touchdowns. Jason Witten and Mike Williams both had pretty good games, but Calvin Johnson was nowhere to be found, with only four receptions and fifty or so yards. The real culprit here though was the running game. Steady Mike Tolbert, a fan favorite, stumbled to negative two points, and Westbrook only had five points himself, which meant the entire backfield for Fobsters produced three points. Ouch.

Pre-Super Bowl X, Coach Evan made a very interesting choice, sliding in free agent pickup RB Rashad Jennings into the lineup -- while players like Anquan Boldin, LaDainian Tomlinson, Danny Woodhead, Ryan Mathews, and Jacob Tamme lurked on the bench. Known to take chances, Evan was swinging for the fences here. While Jennings wasn't spectacular this weekend, we think the great karma built up from being bold enough to make the call gave the Monkeys a spiritual push. We actually can't even post the final score yet as the Monkeys have All Pro Roddy White still to go on Monday Night, and he'll surely pad the Monkeys' total even more in a celebratory victory lap. Right now it's 113-77 but that score will definitely go up after White's MNF performance.

We want to give playoff MVP to the Patriots defense actually, as they've scored 20-14-18 points in successive weeks for Evan. However, the real MVP contenders for the Monkeys' dream championship run are really the steady depth that everyone provided. For Evan's two playoff weeks, Jamaal Charles had 21 and 25 points, Rivers accrued 31 and 16, and Brandon Marshall had 19 and 15 points. Add in Roddy White and the Patriots defense, and five out of eight starters were stellar.

By winning their last five games of the season, the Chunky Monkeys re-established themselves as the team to beat, and with a roster reloaded with potential stars, they could now turn the corner to being the team that never chokes, and waltzes away with the wins. So now, let the discussion about "Team of the Decade" begin!

Edit: Final score 124-77