Colts, Dungy Starting to Think Ahead

By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 6, 2007

MIAMI, Feb. 5 -- After a sleepless night of celebration and a congratulatory phone call from President Bush, things were starting to slow down just enough Monday morning for Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy and quarterback Peyton Manning to begin savoring Sunday night's soggy Super Bowl triumph over the Chicago Bears.

But both knew that the now-answered question about whether they could win a Super Bowl will become a question about whether they can win two Super Bowls, and they already were envisioning beginning preparations in a few weeks for next season. That was particularly significant in the case of Dungy, who apparently went through his annual evaluation about whether he wants to coach another season rapidly and said Monday he intends to return.

"I do look forward to helping these guys defend the title," Dungy said at a morning news conference at which he and Manning posed with the Vince Lombardi Trophy and Manning officially was presented with his most valuable player award.

Dungy's deliberations took longer after last season, when he needed a few days following the Colts' disappointing elimination from the playoffs and the death of his teenage son to be certain that he wanted to keep coaching. This time, Dungy said he has no doubts that his passion and enthusiasm for the sport and the demands of his job remain intact.

"It's difficult to repeat in this league," he said. "It's so competitive that any little slippage is not going to allow you to get back on top. . . . It's a challenge I look forward to."

Manning said that Dungy normally gives his players the remainder of a day to enjoy a victory before going back to work. In this case, there will be more time to celebrate Sunday's 29-17 win over the Bears at Dolphin Stadium. The Colts were scheduled to fly home later Monday and participate in a victory parade in Indianapolis, then Manning and the team's other Pro Bowl players were to leave for Hawaii.

"We'll enjoy this," Manning said. "But once next season comes and once weightlifting comes around in March, it's another season. I want to be a better player next season."

Said Dungy, "Knowing him, he'll come back from the Pro Bowl and come into my office with his notebook with a list of the seven things he wants to do better next season."

Dungy said that he and his assistant coaches will take the rest of this week and much of next week off before beginning their part of the preparations for free agency and the draft. In that regard, the Colts will be playing catch-up with the other teams in the league. No other club, however, gets the luxury of building around Manning.

Next season will be different for Manning, who erased the biggest "yeah, but . . . " disclaimer from his career. He'll be expected to do it again, and Manning said he's fine with that.

"It's just kind of what it's become," Manning said. "You always have to do something else. For me, this was not a personal mission. I was proud to be part of this team."

Manning said he spent the night celebrating with teammates and family members before watching highlights of the game around 4:30 a.m. He saw things that he hadn't seen when he was on the field, like just how close cornerback Kelvin Hayden's heel was to being out of bounds on his return of his fourth-quarter interception of a pass by Bears quarterback Rex Grossman for the game-clinching touchdown. He saw what a superb play Colts safety Bob Sanders made, Manning said, on his interception of another Grossman throw on the Bears' next possession.

Otherwise, the night was a blur of memories. Manning received a congratulatory call from President Bush. And he told of going out on the field two hours before game time Sunday with wide receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne for what they call their pre-pregame warmup. They do it before every game, but they'd always wondered, Manning said, how difficult it would be to do before a Super Bowl, when they perhaps would have to ask Tom Cruise or Prince to kindly step out of the way. But it wasn't that way, Manning said. There was, they found, a welcome serenity.

"We had the whole field to ourselves," Manning said.

Dungy's moment came with the clock winding down and victory in hand when he said a quiet prayer of thanks on the sideline for the group of players he was coaching, he said.

The game also was significant for him because he became the first black head coach to win a Super Bowl. Dungy said Monday he was floored when he was asked after the game to compare his achievement with what Jackie Robinson did in breaking the color barrier in baseball.

"I certainly don't feel I've done anything as difficult as Jackie Robinson did, but it is a proud moment," Dungy said.

It was a week and a game that was about Manning's place among the sport's greatest quarterbacks, and a week and a game that was about Dungy and his friend and Bears counterpart, Lovie Smith, gracefully handling their dual distinction of becoming the first black coaches to lead their teams to a Super Bowl. The coaches embraced after the game.

"We wanted to win it for us," Smith said late Sunday night. "If someone else has to win it, why not Tony? We made progress. We didn't get it done. Hopefully, next year will be our time."

The game also was memorable for the drenching rainstorm in which it was played.

"It was part of the game, part of the elements," Roger Goodell, who oversaw his first Super Bowl as NFL commissioner, said Monday. "It was fun for all of us."

Not everyone seemed to agree.

"After that monsoon we had last night, 20 degrees or 20 below sounds pretty good," Manning said of the return to Indianapolis, where at least the welcome will be warm.