I’m glad that one is over, and that’s one I won’t be going back to watch on the TiVo later tonight. So sorry Colts’ fans, I won’t be breaking down the tape Ron Jaworski-style this week.

But again, we’ve gotta remember that it was indeed a win. There are no such thing as style points in the NFL, which was certainly good on this day for the Colts.

It wasn’t a Manning-like today for Peyton Manning, even if he did throw for 347 yards. He overthrew several passes, which is something that we don’t see on a regular basis from him. Plus, Joseph Addai had more touchdown passes than he did, as Addai made the 22-yard pass to Reggie Wayne that would put the Colts in front for good. That’s right. Manning had zero touchdown passes to Addai’s one. The NFL is an interesting place.

You have to give a lot of credit to the Niner defense, as they seemed to always have an answer for Indy when they were trying to drive for a touchdown. This made Matt Stover busy on the day, as he kicked his first four field goals as a Colt. Welcome aboard, Matt.

Of course, he’s no Adam Vinatieri, but if he kicks like he did today, we may just alternate kickers in order to keep them fresh. I’ll pass the idea on to Coach Caldwell.

All in all, it’s a good victory for the Colts, especially on a day where they clearly didn’t have their best stuff. The 49ers aren’t a bad team, even though that was their third loss in a row. Frank Gore made things look a little scary early on, because after he broke that 64-yard run, I thought it may be a long day for Indy. But aside from that run, they held him to just 27 yards on 12 carries. Good job by the rush defense to pick things up in the second half.

So Colts’ fans, now I turn it over to you.

What did you think of today’s game? Just one game? Or should we be worried?

HOW THE COLTS CAN WIN

The Colts need to keep doing what they’re doing. That might sound a little cliche, but it has worked for them so far this season. Peyton Manning is playing some of the best football of his career, and if they can keep protecting him like they have been, there’s not a secondary in the league that can stop him. He’s turned average receivers into playmakers, so they must continue to put the ball in the air.

WHY THE COLTS COULD LOSE

The only glaring weakness we’ve seen from the Colts all season has been the rush defense. And you bet that Niners’ coach Mike Singletary wants to give the Colts a heavy dose of Frank Gore this week on the ground. For some reason, despite their outstanding play everywhere else, the Colts are still struggling to stop the run. While I have confidence in the amount of points that the Colts can score, they don’t want to get in a hole early just because they can’t stop the run.

COLTS’ X-FACTOR

To me, this has got to be Dwight Freeney. Freeney was back at practice on Friday, despite battling the knee injury, so he should be good to go for tomorrow’s game. If Freeney can get a lot of pressure on Alex Smith, sort of like he did in the meeting with Kurt Warner and the Cardinals earlier this season, the Niners have no shot. Smith isn’t the most accurate quarterback without pressure, and if Freeney is all over him all the time, it’s going to be hard for them to get any type of passing game going.

WHO WILL WIN?

This game sort of scares me a little bit, and no, not just because it’s Halloween weekend. The Niners have looked rough the last few weeks, but they are a better football team than they’ve shown in those two games.

But, the Colts are undefeated, and a Peyton Manning-lead team doesn’t lose these kinds of games. The Colts want to keep the momentum going, and they will.

Prediction: Colts 28, 49ers 17

What are your thoughts on this week’s game?

As for the Niners, they’ve hit a rough stretch the past few weeks, after starting the season 3-1. But you can bet that they’ll be ready when they roll into Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend, so let’s take a look at some things that you need to know about this week’s opponent.

Record: 3-3

Last Game: L 24-21 at Houston

Strengths

Defensively, this team is pretty tough. Now, you wouldn’t know that from their performances the last few weeks, as they gave up 45 to the Falcons and 24 to the Texans, but they’re still pretty solid overall. You can bet that Mike Singletary has worked on disguising some coverages in order to try and fool Peyton Manning, which is much easier said than done. But with Singletary at the helm, while the defense may not always execute properly, they are at least going to be prepared.

The Niners’ rushing attack is something to be concerned about if you’re a Colts’ fan. If there’s been one concern throughout the entire year for Indy, it’s been the rush defense. We can all remember back to the game in Miami where Ronnie Brown was running all over the place and causing major trouble for the defensive line. And despite the blowout win last week, the Colts still allowed Steven Jackson to have a nice day on the ground.

So priority number one will be stopping Frank Gore this week.

Weaknesses

Well, we all know where this one starts. The Niners placed Alex Smith at quarterback at halftime of last week’s game, so there’s definitely some problems at that position. And with the way the Indianapolis secondary has been playing as of late, that’s trouble for San Fran. The Colts have been good at forcing turnovers, and well, Smith has sort of made a career out of that.

So this weakness leads to another significant weakness. And that is that the Niners are going to struggle to come back if they get down early. Yes, I know that they were down 21-0 last week and still managed to come back. But that’s not going to happen week in and week out. I just don’t have the confidence in Smith to believe that is going to be the case.

The Colts need to jump out early on this team, and then force them to throw the ball. A lot. Because then that takes away the Niners’ ability to attack the Colts’ weakness, which is the rush defense. They’ll have to put the ball in the air if they want to get back in the game.

Well there’s a small focus on the Niners. Tomorrow, we’ll have a full preview here at Naptown’s Finest, and we’ll get you ready for the big game on Sunday.