January 22, 2007 @ 12:57 pm

Tony Dungy, Lovie Smith Make History

John DeMarchi

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Dungy's Indianapolis Colts overcame a 21-3 deficit to the New England Patriots to win a 38-34 thriller in the AFC Championship Game. Smith's Chicago Bears dismantled the New Orleans Saints 39-14 in the NFC Championship. Smith and Dungy are close friends. Smith, who is in is third season as Coach of the Bears, was one of Dungy's assistant coaches in Tampa Bay from 1996-2000, before moving on as an asistant in St. Louis and finally getting his head coaching shot in Chicago. The two men even had dinner together, along with Kansas City Chiefs coach Herm Edwards, in Indianapolis a few weeks ago before the Chiefs-Colts wild-card game (won by the Colts, 23-8). Dungy, considered the Dean on NFL black head coaches, has been a head coach for 11 consecutive seasons - six in Tampa Bay and five in Indianapolis. He had been in two previous title games, one with each team. But he had never gotten his teams to the Super Bowl - despite his teams' an outstanding .644 career winning perecentage - until now. "I'm very proud of being an African-American. I'm very proud of Lovie. It's going to be special," Dungy said. "Being the first black coach to lead his team, of course our players knew about it and they wanted to help us make history," Smith told the AP. "So I feel blessed to be in that position, (but I'll) feel even better to be the first black coach to hold up the world championship trophy." Bears superstar linebacker Brian Urlacher said os Smith, "He wants us to be champs. The guy is amazing. We had a tough first season but the guy wins. We've taken on his attitude. He never gets too high or too low. He's probably pretty excited right now but I don't think he ever shows too much emotion and we don't ever get too far down." Colts superstar quarterback Peyton Manning spoke similarly of his head coach, Dungy, "I can't get over the calm look he has on his face," said Colts quarterback Peyton Manning told the AP. "He's calm on the opening kickoff and he's calm when we're down 21-3. It's one of the things that allows us to come back from deficits like that." Incredibly, Smith is the lowest-paid coach in the NFL, earning $1.35 million this year after the Bears refused to give him an extension or a raise. Now, his contract almost certainly will be redone. Also finished: Racist opinions that black head coaches cannot lead their teams to Super Bowl glory. "It's something I've heard all week," one of Dungy's stars, defensive end Dwight Freeney, told the AP. "I hope we get to the point we don't have to hear about it. I'm happy for both coaches just being there to represent. Represent."

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