FOOTBALL SHRINK: ‘COLTS FAR SUPERIOR TO BEARS’

Jan 25, 2007 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Football Shrink: ‘Colts Far Superior to Bears’

Dr. John F. Murray, a licensed clinical and sport performance psychologist (aka the “Football Shrink,” and the “Freud of Football” by the Washington Post) provides data to show that the Indianapolis Colts have performed much better than the Chicago Bears in the NFL playoffs. An analysis of the data indicates that a huge day is likely for the Colts on Super Bowl Sunday.

Mental Performance Index (MPI) of Sport Psychologist Forecasts a Super Bowl XLI Victory by the Indianapolis Colts Based on MPI Statistics.

MIAMI, FLORIDA (PRWEB) January 26, 2007 — This time the odds makers have the right team, butrnthey did not go nearly far enough. The Colts should soundly defeat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. So predicts the creator of the Mental Performance Index(TM) (MPI(TM)), Dr. John F. Murray, who works with NFL players and has used the index throughout the last five NFL seasons to quantify the degree to which a team performs to perfection.

But to a sport psychologist, no team ever reaches perfection. The complimentary Super Bowl numerology by “The Football Shrink,” is posted on his website: https://johnfmurray.com. Indianapolis (.547) scored much better than Chicago (.520) on the total MPI score throughout the playoffs, and higher than the Bears in all other six categories.

The Colts were superb on offense, where they posted a .548 to .510 advantage over the Bears.
They also held the advantage on defense (.536 to .515), special teams (.560rnto .558), total pressure (.570 to .507), pressure offense (.458 to .394), pressure defense (.673 to .621) and total pressure (.570 torn.507).

Taken together, it appears that Chicago is outmatched in this game. The Bears will have to play an almost perfect game, win the battle of turnovers, and make a few huge plays to win this one. Indianapolis has so decisively outperformed Chicago that a two or three touchdown victory looks imminent.

The 45-year-old PhD. licensed sport/performance psychologist in Palm Beach assigns points on each play throughout the playoffs for “focused execution,” “pressure management,” and “reduction of mental errors,” and game totals range from .000 to 1.000 (perfection).

“Scoring at .600 is excellent,” said Murray. “But to a sport psychologist, no team ever reaches perfection.” The Colts’ .547 average throughout the playoffs is very impressive.

As NFL coach Herman Edwards once said, “On every play somebody screws up.” Many good football coaches encourage their teams to place their focus on one play at a time. The MPI measures how well a team does this. Its power comes from the number of plays in a game (approximately 150) and the inclusion of mental factors in the scoring.

The MPI accurately forecast the blowout upset win by Tampa Bay over Oakland four years ago (in Arizona Republic), and forecast “extremely close games” the next two years, beating the official spread each of the first 3 years it was used. Last year, the MPI accurately forecast that Seattle would perform better on offense and defense and worse on special teams than the Pittsburgh Steelers. The MPI forecast that Seattle would perform better was correct, but for the first time in Super Bowl history, the lower performing team on the MPI won the game.

The MPI has been featured by ESPN The Magazine (December, 2002) and Murray has appeared on hundreds of radio and television stations to discuss the MPI and sport psychology. Last year, Dr. Murray discussed the MPI on ESPN Canada, ABC television in West Palm Beach and CBS television in Sacramento. Previous appearances include Westwood One national radio, ESPN Radio affiliates (e.g., Dallas, TX and Blacksburg, VA), Ron Jacober’s award winning “Sports on Sunday Morning” on KMOX in St. Louis, Mo., numerous radio programs in Canada, and Bloomberg Radio. He will again make multiple media appearances leading up to the game.

Murray provides lectures, mental coaching, and sport psychology services to athletes and teams in many sports. He has helped NFL players. He authored “Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game,” endorsedrnby Lindsay Davenport, and Vincent Spadea credited Murray for helping him overcome the longest losing streak in tennis history. Dr. Murray just returned from the Australian Open where he was the official coach of Vincent Spadea who got his first win in eight years of this tournament.

Dr. Murray is available for interviews.

John F. Murray, PhD
Licensed Sport Psychologist
340 Royal Poinciana Way Suite 339J
Palm Beach, FL 33480
Telephone: 561-596-9898
Web: https://johnfmurray.com

Dr. John F. Murray is a sports psychologist and clinical psychologist providing sports psychology and counseling services based in Palm Beach, Florida.