Miami – As Sunday night morphed into Monday morning and the Indianapolis Colts’ Super Bowl celebration began gathering some serious steam, defensive tackle Anthony McFarland took a moment to reflect on what the victory might mean for his coach, Tony Dungy.
The answer was immediate, and perhaps surprisingly sober for a man drenched in champagne who normally answers to “Booger.”
“The Bible says that when much is given, much is expected,” McFarland said. “This is another notch for Tony. He’s been the face of this franchise for a long time, not only on the field but off as well. In football, it always seems like, at some point, you get what you deserve.
“Tony definitely deserves this, but now I’m guessing his expectations will grow, because this is certainly a great thing he’s been given.”
A few hours later, Dungy admitted to having a sleepless night – not from tossing and turning, deliberating about his future, but rather reveling in the culmination of his team’s sparkling postseason run. Long considered a copycat league, with also-rans trying to emulate the most successful aspects of Super Bowl-winning teams, the NFL suddenly has begun to rival the NBA in the sense of “prequeling” – the results of one year providing an indication of what’s to come.
Two years ago, for example, the Pittsburgh Steelers went 15-1 in the regular season only to lose in their first playoff game. Last season, the Colts opened with a 13-0 record, but lost in their opening postseason game – to Pittsburgh, which went on to the championship.
This season, the Colts say they readily used that disappointment as a springboard to this year’s triumph. If the formula holds true, that would indicate that the San Diego Chargers, the league’s top-seeded team and an opening-round upset victim, would be the squad to watch a year from now.
Of course, that equation has never had to take Marty Schottenheimer into account.
Dungy and Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning agreed that Indianapolis has had better teams than the 2006 squad, but certainly none played as well when it counted the most.
After a so-so, 2-3 finish to the regular season, the Colts were dominant in the playoffs, on offense outslugging brawny opponents such as Kansas City, Baltimore and Chicago, and, in an homage to a reputation that now seems incredibly outdated, piling up points to rally against New England for the AFC championship.
All the while, there was a defense that also laid to rest its porous image, shutting down offenses for four consecutive games.
“Winning the way we did was very satisfying, because (in the past) we’ve been labeled a lot of things,” Dungy said. “We’re a team that could do well in the regular season, but couldn’t finish in the playoffs. We’re a finesse team, a passing offense. We’re a soft team, a dome team.
“But I talked a lot with the players about perception and reality, and I would tell them that in reality, we were better than people understood….Now, a lot of those things, we don’t have to dissect and discuss.”
About a year ago, the perception of Dungy was that he was too nice of a man to come out on top in the oft-ruthless NFL. And, after the death of his son James in December 2005, the coach contemplated walking away from the game. On Monday, however, Dungy indicated he was strongly leaning toward returning.
“Every year, probably for the last three or four years, I’ve kind of evaluated where I am at the end of the year,” he said. “I still have a lot of passion for the game, a lot of enthusiasm. After a night like last night, how could you not love it?”
Manning, the king of the commercial, had conquered Madison Avenue long before he climbed to the top of the heap in his chosen profession. But while there would seem to be opportunities available for Dungy, as befitting his faith, his interests will almost certainly migrate into other areas.
After Sunday’s game, he was asked what he intended to do with the incredible platform that was in his grasp. Dungy initially said he wasn’t sure if he’d do anything with it.
Then he smiled.
“You want to do things the right way, and I’m glad that as a Christian coach I can do that,” Dungy said. “I hope that gets across to owners – maybe athletic directors in college football – that, hey, maybe there’s a different set of people out there than the ones you’ve always looked at.”
Staff writer Anthony Cottoncan be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
