NFL 2006 Super Bowl Thoughts

Another season in the books. Another season ending in a fairly boring Super Bowl. We haven't had a good one since 38, which ironically was billed as a snooze-fest in the making before becoming the most exciting game of at least the last 10 years. The Bears were just not worthy opponents. The Colts didn't play spectacular football, but they didn't need to against such a lousy team.

Last year's Super Bowl champion was not necessarily even the best team in its own division (Bengals arguably were), nor were they the best edition the franchise had fielded in recent years. This year's champion isn't the best team the Colts have had in the last five years. Yet, where those better Colt teams failed, this inferior version won it all. We seem to be heading into another lull with no clearly dominant teams, much like we had after the Broncos faded and before the Patriots became dominant in 2003.

Manning won the MVP, but that just shows the meaningless-ness of the award. It should have gone to Rhodes. In the fourth quarter with the game still close, at least on the scoreboard, and the Bears with still a theoretical chance of winning, Rhodes just bludgeoned Chicago into submission with run after run right down the gut. Manning only threw something like 2 passes in the fourth quarter.

Speaking of Manning, the big story line will be how this win validates his career. Come on. If Manning never won a Super Bowl, he would still be listed among the great quarterbacks of all time. The validation that comes out of this game is for Tony Dungy. This is a coach who had to wait a long time to get a head coaching job, then saw his tremendous success in Tampa Bay clouded by the early playoff exits that eventually got him fired. To add insult to injury, his replacement in Tampa took what was essentially Dungy's roster and won the Super Bowl with it in his first season, seemingly confirming that Dungy was what stood in the Bucs' way. Winning it himself this year validates his career.

The Colts should be very glad they won it this year, because their window may have just closed. Don Banks has a pretty good assessment of the upcoming off-season and all the changes it could well bring to Indy. It isn't pretty. They must start to pay the price for all the money they've invested in their marquee offensive players, with hits coming in the secondary, linebackers, and defensive line.

The sight of Don Shula running the gauntlet of Colts players with the Lombardi trophy and a goofy grin on his face was kind of funny. I did notice that he was introduced as the coach of the Dolphins; not mentioned was his career as coach of the Colts, which included one Super Bowl trip and laying the foundation for the only other Colt Super Bowl win in Super Bowl 5. In fact, he was in much the same boat as Dungy, watching his replacement with the Colts take his roster to the title in his first season. It was Miami, I know, but still it seemed a bit strange to not acknowledge his historic connection to the franchise that had just won the Super Bowl.