The teams are set for the 41st Super Bowl.

The two weeks in between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl give fans and the media a chance to analyze the matchup and overdose on the meaningless hype caused by comments made by players and coaches.

Personally, I'd rather use the layoff to reflect on Super Bowls and seasons of the past. For those of you who agree, here are a few interesting tidbits from the big game and the seasons that produced them.

• Three teams have won five Super Bowls — Dallas, Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

Among that trio, the 49ers hold the distinction of having the best points for/against differential in the playoffs during the years they won it all.

Including Super Bowls, the 49ers outscored their playoff opponents by an average of 19.4 points per game, including an amazing 33.3 points in 1989.

For the record, the Cowboys dominated their opponents by an average of 17.1 points per game and the Steelers at 13.3.

• Minnesota's Chuck Foreman was one of the NFL's best all-purpose backs in the 1970s. From 1973-77, when teams played 14 regular season games, Foreman averaged 983 rushing yards per season, 503 receiving yards and 13 total touchdowns. He also led the league in receptions once and in total touchdowns twice during that span.

But a closer look at Foreman's career reveals it was not all roses.

Foreman went to three Super Bowls in his first four years in the NFL, and the Vikings lost all three (VIII to Miami, IX to Pittsburgh and XI to Oakland).

And Foreman never performed well in the big game, either. In those three Super Bowl defeats, Foreman gained just 80 yards on 36 carries for a 2.2 yard average, and he failed to score a single touchdown.

• Among the 40 Super Bowl MVP winners, Fred Biletnikoff's numbers in Super Bowl XI may be the most modest. In a 32-14 win over Minnesota, Biletnikoff caught four passes for 79 yards.

But the Erie native proved that quality trumps quantity.

Two of his receptions set up Oakland at Minnesota's 1-yard line and the Raiders scored on the next play both times.

Another catch put the ball at the Vikings' 2-yard line and, again, Oakland scored on the next play.

• There have been many great Super Bowl performances coming in a losing effort, but Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas' stats in Super Bowl XXV may be at the top of that list.

In a 20-19 loss to the Giants, Thomas totaled 190 yards on 20 touches — 15 carries and five receptions — and scored a touchdown.

Had Buffalo won, Thomas most certainly would have been named the game's MVP.

As for this year's game, my prediction is Indianapolis 30, Chicago 17.

I know there's more to football than the play of the quarterback, but I refuse to believe a team led by Rex Grossman will beat a team led by a future Hall of Famer in Peyton Manning.