Colts' Super Bowl run came with tough lessons

MIAMI (AP) _ Tony Dungy wasn't about to let a playoff loss define his Indianapolis legacy. The comeback sure could. <br/><br/>A year after the Colts' almost perfect season was derailed by Pittsburgh,

Monday, January 29th 2007, 6:19 pm

By: News On 6

MIAMI (AP) _ Tony Dungy wasn't about to let a playoff loss define his Indianapolis legacy. The comeback sure could.

A year after the Colts' almost perfect season was derailed by Pittsburgh, Dungy has gotten his team to the Super Bowl by using the road map established by last year's NFL champions.

``I said, 'This is how the Steelers did it,''' he said. ``They used the disappointment of losing a home game, of losing when they had the No. 1 seed. But they were able to battle through that.''

Most thought the Colts threw away their best shot at an NFL title last year with a 21-18 divisional-round loss to Pittsburgh. After all, they were unbeaten through 13 weeks, and had not only home-field advantage but a defense that finally seemed good enough to get two-time MVP Peyton Manning to a Super Bowl.

Dungy soon turned to Pittsburgh for answers.

He chatted briefly with former coach Bill Cowher, then ran into offensive lineman Jeff Hartings at a religious conference in Utah. They told him the same thing: The team needed to move on before it could move forward.

It seemed an impossible task.

Fans constantly asked about it _ Nick Harper's late fumble return that could have gone for a touchdown, Mike Vanderjagt's shanked field goal that might have forced overtime.

``It was very difficult to get over, and it really won't stop hurting til you come out on top,'' defensive end Robert Mathis said. ``We humbled ourselves, thinking it would come on a silver platter, which it didn't. We realized you have to earn what you get.''

When Dungy met with his players in March, he urged them to leave last season's failure behind. At training camp, he instructed players to focus on the regular season when everybody else already was talking postseason.

Even as Indianapolis (15-4) made NFL history by opening a second straight season at 9-0, fans remained cautious, waiting to see how the team would respond in the playoffs.

Bears coach Lovie Smith faced a similar scenario in Chicago.

Three years ago, he took over a Bears team that had gone through seven of eight losing seasons. Chicago struggled again in Smith's first season, going 5-11, before rekindling hope with an 11-5 record, an NFC North title and a first-round bye in 2005.

Then came a 29-21 loss in the divisional round to Carolina that forced Smith to start over.

``As I looked at all the things we were able to accomplish that was the one thing we didn't get done _ finishing,'' Smith said. ``So coming into this season, it seemed fitting to have that as our one word and we stuck with it. We had a chance to finish a lot of football games this year, and I can say that's the one thing our football team has been able to do.''

By late October, the Colts and Bears were on parallel track.

They were the NFL's last undefeated teams albeit with different scripts. Chicago won with defense and special teams despite the inconsistency of quarterback Rex Grossman. Indy relied on Manning and its high-scoring offense to overcome the league's worst run defense.

As the Bears continued following their script, the Colts faced a bigger challenge.

They stumbled into the playoffs with four losses in seven games and let both home-field advantage and a first-round bye slip away. Detractors figured they were finished, but a Colts team that has rarely followed conventional wisdom responded again in an unconventional way.

``We learned from last year that if you get in this situation, you have to take advantage of it,'' safety Bob Sanders said. ``I think everybody's attitude was a little more focused this year.''

The defense stopped Kansas City's Larry Johnson cold in the wild-card game. It won an unusual field-goal fest at Baltimore, and then did the unthinkable by giving Manning a chance to rally from an 18-point deficit against three-time Super Bowl champion New England.

Manning's 80-yard drive and Marlin Jackson's late interception sealed the greatest comeback in conference championship game history and sent the Colts to their first Super Bowl since moving to Indy in 1984.

Dungy somehow never doubted the Colts could rebound.

``I actually felt we could do this the day after the Super Bowl,'' Dungy said. ``I thought 'We have to take a page out of Pittsburgh's book' and that's what we did.''