Undefeated Colts

It seems like everyone who follows the NFL is opining on whether or not the Colts should make a concerted effort at a perfect season. Tim Dahlberg writes, "Dungy owes it to the Colts and the fans to try and win them all." Coach Dungy, while repeatedly saying it is too early to think about 16-0, has hinted that he will rest his starters and play primarily with backups once homefield advantage is secured for the playoffs.

In a normal season, that would be the prudent thing to do. But this is not a normal season. The Colts face a once in a career opportunity. Since the '72 Dolphins, only four teams (now five with the 2005 Colts) have gone 11-0 to start the season: 1984 Dolphins, 1998 Broncos, 1985 Bears, 1991 Redskins. Not only are there few teams on this list, notice that no team has done it twice. A team will have more shots at a Super Bowl victory than a perfect season. Coach Dungy can be assured that he will almost certainly never be in this position again, nor will his players. For this reason, I have to agree with Dahlberg. He owes it to his players to go out there every week, until they lose, with his A-team and make a serious run at perfection. They will likely never have that chance again.

Now, I agree it's too soon to really talk about these decisions. There are still five games to go and the Colts still have to wrap up their division. Dungy's hand may be forced anyway. The Colts, for all their wins, only have a 2 game edge on the Broncos in the race for the top seed. So, if Denver keeps winning, and the Broncos' schedule is not all that hard, it might not be until the 15th game that the Colts wrap up home field advantage. At that point, at 15-0, only the lowly Cardinals would stand in their way. If Dungy backed off then, even if he won the Super Bowl, he would always be remembered as the coach who threw away perfection for no good reason.

Beyond that, I've always felt the one flaw in the Schottenheimer tree of coaches (Dungy, Cowher, Edwards, Marty himself) is they are too conservative. As an "idiot kicker" once said, they don't have the killer instinct. This is why, for all those coaches' success in the regular season, only one has made a Super Bowl appearance, and that only once. Rather than play to his conservative side, Dungy, should he end up close, should go for the gusto.