NFL playoffs offer no guarantees

NFL playoffs offer no guarantees
January 14
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
columnist Mike Prisuta
"All of a sudden, the Steelers are the favorite in Vegas and they look great on paper, and Super Bowl fever is once again epidemic throughout Steeler Nation.

No reason that shouldn't be the case.

But there are no guarantees.

The best team doesn't always win in the NFL. Look at the success of No. 6 seeds, road teams and Super Bowl underdogs in recent seasons.

Appreciating that information can be the key to maintaining sanity in times such as these, when games can be decided by the bounce of a ball and an officiating crew's selective ability to notice an expired play clock.

Tony Dungy knows.

The just-retired coach of the Indianapolis Colts departed by offering another dose of essential perspective during a Tuesday morning appearance on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

When asked to name the best of his teams, Dungy quickly replied that it was the 2005 Colts.

That was one of the Dungy teams that didn't win the Super Bowl.

That was the one that started the season 13-0, winning each of those 13 games by at least seven points.

That was the one that was beaten by the Steelers, 21-18, in its first playoff game, despite being at home and coming off a first-round bye.

Those 2005 Colts deserved to lose, too. But despite being soundly outplayed throughout, it took an amazingly fortuitous, shoestring tackle by Ben Roethlisberger on Nick Harper in the wake of a Jerome Bettis fumble, and a just-as-unlikely miss by Mike Vanderjagt on what would have been a game-tying, 46-yard field goal for the Steelers to prevail.

Dungy finally got his Super Bowl the following season with, admittedly, a lesser team.

When asked during the SIRIUS interview how he could explain this year's goings on, Dungy cited the San Diego Chargers, who turned out to be the last team to beat him.

One week, Dungy explained, Chargers punts are bouncing out of bounds at the opponents' 1-yard line.

The next week, punts are bouncing off Chargers' players heads.

Dungy couldn't account for why such things happen one week but not the next.

And this is a guy who retired on the heels of setting NFL records for consecutive 12-win seasons (six) and consecutive playoff appearances (10).

"He's the ultimate coach, the ultimate motivator," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, a former Dungy assistant, said of his former boss yesterday afternoon."
Link