Manning, who completed 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards, said winning his first championship in his ninth professional season made him more appreciative.  “We worked hard in years past also, and it’s been hard not only to lose in the playoffs, but to watch these others teams hoist that trophy, knowing they were the ones who beat you,” said Manning, who threw one touchdown pass and was intercepted once. “The past three years, the teams that have beaten us won the Super Bowl. That’s a hard pill to swallow. You realize how badly you want to be up there.”  Indianapolis won not as The Manning Show, but as a team. Kelvin Hayden, a backup cornerback, made one of the game’s biggest plays with a little less than 12 minutes left and the Colts protecting a 5-point lead. Hayden intercepted a floating pass by Rex Grossman along the sideline, barely avoided stepping out of bounds and returned the ball 56 yards for the Colts’ final touchdown. It was the first career interception for Hayden, who was in the game only because Nick Harper was injured.  “Kelvin Hayden goes in and makes a tremendous play; that’s what our team is all about,” Dungy said. “We always talk about the next man up just has to step in. We don’t change anything. We don’t do anything differently. I’m just really proud of our guys, because that’s what we’ve done all year.”  Hayden’s touchdown put the Bears in a hole from which they never recovered. On Chicago’s next possession, Grossman was intercepted again, this time by Bob Sanders, and the celebrating began in Indianapolis, while the Bears were forced to accept that a special season had ended one victory short.  The Colts’ title was their first since the 1970 season, when the franchise was based in Baltimore. It gave the A.F.C. its fourth consecutive Super Bowl win and sixth victory in the last seven games. Indianapolis won with a balanced attack, Manning throwing it, Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes running it, and the Colts’ offensive line dominating the line of scrimmage.  Rhodes rushed for 113 yards on 21 carries, and Addai gained 77 yards on 19 carries and caught 10 passes for 66 yards.  The Colts also dominated time of possession, 38:04 to 21:56, and gradually wore down Chicago’s defense.  “Obviously, we’re very disappointed,” Smith said. “When you turn the ball over as much as we did tonight, it’s really hard to win. Hopefully next season, we can take one more step and finish the job.”  Grossman’s two interceptions ruined an otherwise efficient game. He was 20 of 28 for 165 yards and a touchdown. He also lost a fumble.  It was the first Super Bowl played in the rain, and the wet weather seemed to have a major impact; the Bears committed five turnovers, the Colts three. Nothing could be taken for granted, not even extra points, as the Colts botched a conversion attempt during the first half when holder Hunter Smith bobbled the ball.  As the game progressed, the Colts overcame the hard hitting and the slick ball to get a grip on the game, taking the lead for the first time in the second quarter and taking control in the second half.  The first quarter was one of the wildest in Super Bowl history. To look away from the field, even for an instant, meant taking the risk of missing a big play. In the previous five Super Bowls, there were no touchdowns in the first quarter. In this game, the first touchdown was scored in only 14 seconds, with Devin Hester sprinting 92 yards with the opening kickoff, the longest opening return in the game’s history.  As Hester, the N.F.L.’s most dangerous special-teams player, streaked down the field, perhaps Dungy was second-guessing himself for not kicking away from him. Hester returned six kicks for touchdowns during the regular season, and many teams would rather kick away from Hester than take the chance of being forced to kick themselves.  “Devin Hester is a big concern,” Dungy said last week. “He’s a guy that’s changed games.”  On this occasion, Hester changed the scoreboard. Starting to his right, cutting back to his left, and bursting through a seam in the middle of the Colts’ kickoff team, Hester accelerated into the open field, faked past place-kicker Adam Vinatieri and won the race to the end zone. Bears fans went crazy, the Colts’ bench was momentarily shocked and the Bears had a 7-0 lead. For the rest of the game, the Colts kicked far more carefully and usually away from Hester.  A quick score like Hester’s can unnerve the opponent in the Super Bowl. But the Colts are resilient, as they proved in overcoming an 18-point deficit in their previous game, against New England, and they overcame Hester’s return quickly.  “No one was really shocked, no one was upset,” said Dungy, whose team was the first to overcome deficits of more than 7 points in the conference title game and the ensuing Super Bowl. “It’s just 7 points. Peyton did a good job of staying patient, but more than anything, it was just our team fighting together all the way through.”  The Bears made a huge defensive mistake on the Colts’ second possession, opening the door for Indianapolis. Manning eluded Chicago’s pass rush and saw Reggie Wayne alone behind the defense, left uncovered by Bears safety Chris Harris. Manning floated the pass to Wayne, who easily ran to the end zone to complete a 53-yard scoring play.  “I just did my job; I just got behind the coverage,” Wayne said. “I couldn’t let that one drop.”  The Bears still led, 7-6, after Smith’s botched hold, and the Bears extended their lead to 14-6 on a 4-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter from Grossman to Muhsin Muhammad. After a 29-yard field goal by Vinatieri cut the Colts’ deficit to 14-9, Indianapolis took the lead for good on a 58-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, capped by Rhodes’s 1-yard run.  Yet after two more Vinatieri field goals in the third quarter, a field goal by Robbie Gould had the Bears down by only 22-17 heading into the fourth quarter. But Hayden made his fourth-quarter defensive play, Dungy made history and the Colts’ long journey to a championship was finally complete.  “I think the disappointments that you have along the way make it feel that much better when you finally do accomplish it,” Dungy said. “You realize how hard it is to get there. I love these guys. I know what we went through to win this one. It feels great.”  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Late Interceptions Seal Sloppy Win Against the Bears. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Peyton Manning no longer has to worry about a career without a Super Bowl title after the Colts defeated the Bears, 29-17.