Four NFL coaches vie for the ultimate prize: the Super Bowl

Not long after the Indianapolis Colts finished beating the Baltimore Ravens in a second-round AFC playoff game last weekend, Colts staffers ushered quarterback Peyton Manning to a podium in an interview room inside Lucas Oil Stadium. Moments later, Colts Coach Jim Caldwell stepped into the room and stood calmly by a doorway, waiting patiently for Manning to finish so that he could have his turn to speak.

It was a small thing, Caldwell blending into the background instead of the NFL norm of the coach being the first to speak after a game. But it perhaps was telling. The late stages of the NFL playoffs so often are taken over by larger-than-life coaches who lord over everything about their teams, down to the tiniest detail, and would never consider allowing a player, even an all-pro quarterback, to be the first to discuss what just happened on the field.

There will be a little bit of star power on the sideline during Sunday's two conference championship games, given the way that New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan has earned a sliver of the spotlight with his refreshingly straightforward manner. But Ryan, like Caldwell, is a rookie NFL head coach. And for the most part, the four men still coaching this weekend -- Caldwell, Ryan, the New Orleans Saints' Sean Payton and the Minnesota Vikings' Brad Childress -- are not yet household names.

That soon could change for at least one of them, of course, with a Super Bowl title about to go on someone's résumé.

"All these guys have done a good job," former NFL coach Dick Vermeil said. "Big name, not a big name, whatever -- you have to do a good job to get your team to this point."

It has been an NFL season in which the cachet of the coaches who exited the sport in recent years exceeded that of those still working. Super Bowl winners Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Tony Dungy, Joe Gibbs and Brian Billick were not on the sidelines this season, although Shanahan was recently hired by the Washington Redskins and Holmgren returned to the league in the Cleveland Browns' front office.

Caldwell, Ryan, Payton and Childress have made good on the opportunities given to them after proving themselves as NFL assistants.

"Most coaches have to earn their way," former Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy said. "These guys have had to earn their way. They've been around. They've gained experience. People in the league have been able to observe them and study them. They were ready when their chances came. I'm not surprised by it."

Two rookies square off

Ryan and Caldwell will be the first rookie head coaches to oppose one another in a conference championship game. Ryan has become a media darling in New York, in part because he has won after being hired to replace the fired Eric Mangini, and in part because he knows how to talk the talk. He stayed at it during the buildup to this game, saying at a midweek news conference that the underdog Jets had more than a puncher's chance to win Sunday in Indianapolis.

"Yeah, we've got a puncher's chance like George Foreman would have a puncher's chance," Ryan said. "That's how I look at it. We don't punch just like anybody. We punch like George Foreman."

The former Ravens defensive coordinator also can coach, quite clearly. The Jets ranked first in the league in total defense and rushing offense during the regular season, and they're on a roll that has left them one win from the Super Bowl just weeks after they fell to 7-7 and Ryan declared them eliminated from playoff contention. Ryan, called "a defensive guru" by Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco before the teams met in the first round, now must try to find a way to slow down Manning and the Colts' offense.

"If we're going to keep Indianapolis from scoring 14 points [the Jets surrendered 14.8 points per game during the regular season], that's even a stretch for me to say," Ryan said during the week. "I know one thing: We're darn sure going to try."