Move over Hawkeye, Super Bowl XLIV is now the most-watched television program in history. Sunday's game between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts drew 106.5 million viewers, barely topping the 105.97 million who watched the series finale of "M*A*S*H" in 1983.

It's the first time a sporting event in the United States has surpassed 100 million viewers. The soaring popularity of the NFL, Peyton Manning(notes), the hype around the Saints as an inspiration to New Orleans, the first Super Bowl between No. 1 seeds since 1993 and the Mid-Atlantic blizzard combined to give the league its highest viewership of all time. Just imagine if Brett Favre(notes) had been playing.

A higher percentage of Americans watched the final episode of "M*A*S*H" 27 years ago (approximately 45 percent of the population), but that was also in an era when cable was at its infancy and most people had just three networks from which to choose. Super Bowl XLIV had to go up against "Puppy Bowl," for pete's sake.

Nielsen Co. reports that 153.4 million people watched at least part of the game, up from 151.6 million last year. In a television industry defined by declining viewership, the fact that the NFL's biggest game has done a better rating in each of the past five years is somewhat stunning. The audience is supposed to be getting more fragmented, not setting records.

The presence of Peyton Manning was a huge force in the staggering numbers, but don't underestimate the role of the weekend blizzard. Record-setting snow totals in the Mid-Atlantic kept people snowbound and likely increased the number of TVs tuned into the game. Amazingly, Super Bowl XLIV did a better rating in D.C. (56.0) than it did in Indianapolis (54.2).

I'd like to add one more name to the list of "could-have-been" MVPs: Tracy Porter's(notes) barber.

I'm going to go ahead and succumb to hyperbole and call it the greatest Super Bowl haircut of all time. He showed up for the game Sunday with an image of the Superdome shaved into the back of his dome, surrounded by the Lombardi trophy and "SB44." Here are a couple of looks:

Notice the guy to on the left, staring intently. Yeah, I think you should be jealous, buddy.

Here's a look at the SB on the other side. And the coup de grace, courtesy of Larry Brown Sports:

It's not the first time Porter's barber has worked some magic, either. In the NFC Championship game, where his interception of Brett Favre(notes) won the day for the Saints, he went with a Pac-man theme.

Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde weren't going to keep Porter from being this year's unofficial postseason MVP. It's been a miraculous two weeks for the Saints cornerback, and he and his barber should be proud.

It's not Matt Stover's(notes) fault he's Matt Stover. So you can't blame the Indianapolis Colts kicker for missing a 51-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV. The 42-year-old, who Sunday became the oldest player ever to suit up in the NFL's biggest game, had kicked only one field goal longer than 50 yards since 2002. For his career, Stover is just 13 for 32 from 50-plus, and most of those attempts took place when Stover was in his kicking prime. 

Stover was cut at the end of last season by the Baltimore Ravens in large part because of his diminished long-range skills. And now, on the biggest stage in sports, a team with Peyton Manning(notes) was putting its destiny on the foot of a man old enough to actually remember when the band playing halftime was actually revelant?

Stover never should have been put in that situation. There was little doubt that his 51-yard try, which would have given Indy a 20-16 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game, would fail. He doesn't have the leg for such kicks anymore. He never did. Stover was, and is, an excellent kicker from inside 49 yards. For his career, he's 86 percent from that distance. Once he gets over 50 yards though, that percentage drops to 40 percent. Since 2004 he's only attempted four kicks from beyond 50. Those kicks aren't part of his game.

It's not a knock on him to say this any more than it is to say that Joe Montana wasn't as good as Brett Favre(notes) because he didn't throw it as hard. Stover is an accurate kicker, not one with long range. This isn't an insult, but a fact. To ask him to be a kicker he's not was the real error, not the inevitable missed kick (which fluttered wide left and barely made it to the back of the end zone).

But that's basically what Jim Caldwell and Peyton Manning did. Facing a third-and-11 from the New Orleans 33-yard line, Manning went no huddle and threw a deep pass to Austin Collie(notes) that fell incomplete. The Colts were playing for the first down and to extend the drive. The decision failed.

In retrospect it's easy to say the Colts should have thrown a short pass and taken a chunk out of the 11 yards in order to give Stover a more palatable 43-yard field goal. That's probably what I would have done. But playing it safe isn't how the Colts entered the Super Bowl with an undefeated record this season in games that meant something. Peyton is a risk-taker, much like Saints coach Sean Payton (witness the onside kick to start the second half.) He didn't care that Stover would have to kick a 51-yarder because he didn't think Stover would have to do it in the first place. The plan wasn't to throw an incompletion, it was to get a first down with Collie and only bring Stover out to kick the extra point after a touchdown.

That mentality is part of why Peyton and the Colts are so good. But when reality does rear its head, a better decision needs to be made. Letting Stover kick that field goal was essentially the same thing as failing to convert on fourth down. Either run a short play on third down and go for it on fourth, or go for the whole thing on third and punt if it doesn't work out. Settling for a prayer field goal can't be the game plan there. 

After the miss, New Orleans got the ball on its own 41-yard line and nine plays later scored the go-ahead touchdown. A late Peyton Manning interception sealed the game for the Saints. That Tracy Porter(notes) interception will become the signature play of this contest, seen for years on highlight films and remembered as the defining moment. But Matt Stover's miss was just as big ... and completely avoidable.

He's famously brash and outspoken; when he coached in the nation's capital, Washington reporters used to say (with perhaps a note of sarcasm) that the extra "g" in his name stood for "Genius". After Williams made some rather pointed comments about how his Saints defense would treat Peyton Manning(notes) in the Super Bowl, New Orleans head coach Sean Payton tried to prevent a repeat performance during yesterday's Media Day -- by controlling Williams' breakfast.

"(The waiter) gave me two big jars of peanut butter, saltine crackers and a jar of sand to wash it down with," Williams said. "And maybe if I took all of that stuff down I'd be able to keep my mouth shut and not say something that will haunt him all week like I did last week."

Admittedly, it doesn't reflect the height of wisdom in today's quarterback-friendly NFL to come right out and say that your intent is to "make sure (Manning) gets a couple ‘remember me' shots when we get there." But overlooked in the uproar about Williams' comments is what he said later in that same interview -- it's a revealing look at why Williams succeeds wherever he goes.

"We're going to have to mix up zone, we're going to have to mix up pressure, we're going to have to mix up man and we're going to have to do as much as we can to make Peyton figure it out after the ball is snapped as before the ball is snapped. So it's going to be an interesting chess match. Our guys are going to play hard, I know that ..."

Williams is among the most blitz-happy defensive coordinators in the NFL -- it's a trend that has followed him through recent stints in Washington and Jacksonville. But what he's shown in New Orleans is a stunningly effective ability to dial up fake blitzes that turn into zone coverage concepts, seemingly without a single tip-off. As much as Williams' defense went after Brett Favre(notes) with everything they had in the NFC Championship game, that's how much they brought five or six to the line and then backed into coverage against Kurt Warner(notes) in the divisional round win. He's been the difference in getting that high-flying Saints team with the always-great offense where they are today. Payton knew it would be so, and that's why he gave up $250,000 of his own money to make sure that no other team would outbid his for Williams' services.

New Orleans' defense made Warner look out of sorts and eventually wore Favre down, but Manning is the strictest challenge any defense will face. If you blitz him and you don't get there, he'll riddle your man coverages with successful plays. If you back into coverage and give him too much time, he'll pick your zones apart -- no matter how talented your players are. And when you bring disguised coverages, Manning's ability to uncover those looks with hard counts is unparalleled. It's not hyperbole to say that the winner of Super Bowl XLIV will be the winner of the chess match between Williams and Manning.

The fine people at Gatorade hooked Shutdown Corner up with an interview with Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew. Here is that interview.

Maurice Jones-Drew: Yo.

MJD: Hey, Maurice, it's nice to talk to you.

Jones-Drew: MJD, how are you?

MJD: I'm doing good, man, how are you?

Jones-Drew: Awesome.

MJD: Glad to hear it. So listen, I though we had this whole MJD thing sorted out.

Jones-Drew: I thought we did, too, man. You were supposed to change. You were supposed to put "2" at the end.

MJD: You know, that's not how I remember it, actually.

Jones-Drew: How do you remember it?

MJD: You said you were going to tell people to call you "Merlin."

Jones-Drew: I was! But "MJD" sounds so much better.

MJD: Yeah, I know. That's why I like it.

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I've got bad news for those of you who think it's dumb to have the Pro Bowl the week before the Super Bowl. It's probably going to be that way next year, too. And the year after. And the year after that.

The ratings are in, and the people at the NFL and ESPN are high-fiving each other like Brett Favre(notes) just agreed to play quarterback on all Monday night games next season. The Pro Bowl did a bizarrely high 7.9 rating, which is 39 percent higher than last year's post-Super Bowl Pro Bowl.

And it did this number despite everything in the world being against it. First, it was on cable television this year, as opposed to network television last year. Second, it was up against the Grammys and the WWE's Royal Rumble.

The NFL announced that the 2011 and 2012 Pro Bowls will return to Hawaii, but hasn't announced whether it will be the week before or after the Super Bowl. Sorry, people who hate the pre-Super Bowl slot. If it can do ratings like that, it's going to stay where it is. Commissioner Roger Goodell might even consider moving it to Week 14 or something.

For whatever it's worth, I never understood the complaint about playing the Pro Bowl the week before the Super Bowl. What's it hurt? Yeah, the guys from the Super Bowl teams don't get to play. So what? What's that do, compromise the integrity of the Pro Bowl? That's kind of like compromising the integrity of the Royal Rumble.

If you don't like the Pro Bowl, why does it make a difference on what day you have to ignore it? You can ignore it in late January, or the middle of February.

And evidently, fewer people ignore the thing in late January, so that's probably where it's going to stay.

Donovan McNabb(notes) on why he thinks he'll be back with the Philadelphia Eagles next season:

"I have a psychic and she told me; she said, 'Good things are to happen in Philadelphia and it's going to be really good for you,' " McNabb said while doing his best Jamaican psychic impersonation. " 'Just relax. You'll get what you need.' "

Ahh, so that's who he was calling. 

McNabb was almost certainly joking but on the off-chance that he wasn't, his psychic knows a bit about football. Because when you get down to it Philly shouldn't be thinking about getting rid of McNabb.

It boggles the mind how many Eagles fans are anti-McNabb and anti-Andy Reid even though those two have led the franchise to its greatest heights in 50 years. What, people are spoiled by eight playoff appearances in 10 years? That's just two less than the franchise had in the previous 39 seasons! If you're an Eagles fan and disagree I have a Joni Mitchell song you should listen to. (MJD wrote about this earlier in the month.)

However, let me switch roles for a second and put this out there: If the Eagles front office thinks Kevin Kolb(notes) is the guy of the future then how is this any different than what the Packers did to Brett Favre(notes)? Obviously there are differences in the two situations but they're quite similar at its core: jettison aging quarterback in favor of newer, improved version.

That's not to say Kevin Kolb would be an upgrade. As I said, I'd highly doubt it. But it's something to think about. Or, perhaps, to talk over with your psychic.

It was obvious in the NFC Championship game that part of the Saints defensive game plan was to beat the stubble off of Brett Favre(notes). Perhaps not with any hits that would be deemed illegal, necessarily, but if they had a chance to hit him, they wanted to hit him. After the fact, that was obvious.

Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, by announcing similar intentions for Peyton Manning(notes) before the fact, seems to be walking a dangerous line. Here's Williams, from an interview on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville, going all Buddy Ryan on Peyton Manning (via ESPN's AFC South Blog).

“This guy’s got a great clock in his head. The big thing is that he throws the ball so early that we’re going to have to do a good job of finding ways to get to him and when we do get to him we’re going to have to make sure he gets a couple ‘remember me’ shots when we get there ...”

Then, when asked about his players worrying about incurring 15-yard penalties for hitting Manning, he added this:

I guess there are two ways to look at this. The first is that Williams is just being honest about something that every defensive coach probably says, which is, "Let's hit the quarterback, hit him often, hit him hard, and if he happens to get hurt, well hey, this is football, ladies." Anyone who's ever played at any level knows this is the reality. You'll never hear a defensive coach say, "The opposing quarterback is a precious flower, and his health is our biggest concern in this game."

It becomes a whole different thing, though, when you start talking about wanting to injure a player before the game. Not that Williams did exactly that here, but he got pretty close. Essentially, he said that he wouldn't mind a couple of personal foul penalties, and that if he does get one, he at least hopes that it injures Manning.

We're all willing to live with the fact that injuries are a part of the game, but an expressed desire to injure someone? That's something else entirely. That makes me feel dirty.

I can't imagine the commissioner liked that. That's just one or two steps away from a Bounty Bowl situation.

• Big Pat Williams of the Vikings said he's considering retirement, too. He put the probability at 50-50. I'd like to see him come back.

• Matt Bowen(notes) at the National Football Post writes that it's time to give some credit to Jim Caldwell for what he's accomplished in Indianapolis. I couldn't agree more.

• Tom Cable ... still twisting in the wind.

• Last night, after ESPN's Tom Jackson said, "That's the thing about Brett Favre(notes); he's not afraid to throw an interception. That's one of the things I most admire about him," baseball scribe Craig Calcaterra posted, "That's the thing about Bill Buckner. He's not afraid to muff a grounder. That's one of the things I most admire about him." Shortly thereafter, with a little bit of help, a joke with endless possibilities was born. 

• This is just weird. Jim Nantz and Don Imus argue about their favorite teenage musical acts. Imus on someone named Justin Bieber: "He's cute." Nantz on the Jonas Brothers: "Why are you questioning my manhood because I happen to think the Jonas Brothers are a great act?" Gentlemen, please. A little decorum.

• The Eagles fans at The 700 Level fantasize about "Lost" scenarios in which their favorite Eagles could travel ahead in time.

• Roughly 825 replacements have been named for the Pro Bowl. Good news: Two more injuries at defensive tackle, and I'm a starter.

• The Top 30 spots in the NFL Draft order are now official.

And in a related story, John Edwards swears that kid's not his.

ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted the following earlier today (via PFT):

Let this be the first of hopefully very few Favre-Watch updates: Favre told ESPN's Ed Werder it was "highly unlikely" he'd play again.

Of course, when it comes to the potential retirement of Brett Favre(notes), there is no less reliable source than Brett Favre. You might as well head to your local toy store, pull the cord on a Teddy Ruxpin, ask him if Brett Favre is retiring and see what he says. The answer will be just as reliable.

I think the one thing we do know about Favre's retirement is that we won't know for sure until about Week 8 of the 2010 regular season. Say a few weeks pass he does announce his intention to retire. How do we know he won't get the itch again when everyone else is heading to training camp? Say the Vikings, under Tarvaris Jackson(notes) or Sage Rosenfels(notes), start 0-4. How do we know he won't decide then that he'd like to come back and save the team?

We don't. I really don't mean to kick the guy when he's down, but that's just the way things are now. Unless he also brings a hacksaw to his press conference and proceeds to sever his right arm in front of anyone, I just don't think we can take his word for much.

Still, his words remain newsworthy, and we have to treat them as such. Forgive me if I don't put much stock into them, though.