Colts Celebrate Super Bowl Title With Rally at RCA Dome

Feb 06, 01:15 AM

Current Headlines:

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - The Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts escaped the rainfall that deluged Dolphins Stadium, returning home for a festive rally inside the RCA Dome on Monday night.

Despite a delayed arrival of nearly two and a half hours because of a late charter flight, the team and its fans braved frigid temperatures for a parade that wound through the streets of downtown Indianapolis.

Then, with the players riding atop trucks and on floats, the Colts arrived at the stadium for a raucous celebration with more than 40,000 fans.

Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning led the procession that ended at the west end of the field. The quarterback, donning his No. 18 jersey over a gray hooded sweatshirt and sporting a championship hat, soaked in more than half a minute of cheers and applause from the boisterous crowd. In the big game, Manning completed 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown with an interception.

The players gathered around the microphones to thank the fans for their support and vowed to repeat their championship feat next season.

"It's very difficult to repeat in this league," said Colts head coach Tony Dungy, who became the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl. "It's so competitive and any little slippage is not going to allow you to get back to the top. We know how tough it is. To get here is tough, but to get here and continually be there takes something special. I think we have special guys."

02/06 00:50:43 ET