The View From Here

No one likes it when you talk to the pitcher in the middle of a no-hitter, but despite the softening of the anti-Indy rage I’m not rooting for the Colts, and thus don’t care.

There are a million interesting storylines in Super Bowl XLIV. You have the Saints on the precipice of maybe the greatest rejuvination story in sports history, considering a bunch of their fans lived in their stadium a couple years ago. You have the Manning Bowl: Archie’s old team vs his kid’s team. You have Peyton Manning who, with another title, could jump in the all-time rankings from five or so (we have him at 4) to number one. But Jim Caldwell is an interesting story.

Who?

I guarantee there are even Colts fans who are asking that question.

Rex Ryan is a big, brash defensive wizard. Sean Payton is a Parcellsian offensive guru. Brad Childress is a bearded dope of a cuckold coach (worst extension since Crennell). And Caldwell is… Tony Dungy’s guy.

Manning obviously runs the show in Indy. He’s a player of such staggering value that most people believe the Colts wouldn’t be a playoff team without him. Others conservatively estimate that they’d be the Rams. He calls all of the plays, and for all we know, dials in the blitzes on defense in between auditions for Vizio ads. Speaking of which, the D is Dungy’s old Tampa-2 that, once installed, doesn’t require a lot of maintinence. The Tampa-2 is basically a Mac: really simple and easy to use and does everything you want it to do. Larry Coyer is Indy’s hipster in the Apple lanyard.

So what does Caldwell do?

People have made jokes about him all season. Every cut to the sideline is the same: he casually chews gum, looking around the stadium as if to say, “Hmm. I wonder what the air conditioning bill is like around here. What is this, 4 million square feet? Wait, that’s too much. Or is it? I guess if you go to volume…yes 4 million cubed feet. Wait, that’s not enough.”

So here’s a bold storyline for Super Bowl XLIV:

If the Colts win, it’s time to put Dungy in the conversation of the greatest coach of all time.

Huh? He’s retired! He’s spending his days praying with dog murderers and showing off the whites of his eyes on NBC. I’m not saying he’s the best, I’m saying he’s in the conversation, which most will agree shakes out like this (in no particular order, Bills first):

-Bill Parcells

-Bill Walsh

-Bill Belichick

-Chuck Noll

-Don Shula

-Tom Landry

-Vince Lombardi

There are cases for all of those guys, and the main thing about them is that they’ve all won multiple Super Bowls. But of them, there are only two true Nation Builders, coaches who come in and turn more than one team into a contender for years: Parcells (New York, New England, Other New York, and Dallas) and Shula (Baltimore, Miami). That’s the mark of a true genius.

Enter Tony Dungy, who has a chance of winning his third Super Bowl.

Dungy turned the Tampa Bay Bucs from the ultimate laughing stock (take the practice squads from the Lions, Browns and Rams and make ‘em wear orange and then we’re close) into a defensive force. The table was totally set in 2002; Gruden won with Dungy’s team. Then, of course, he actually got to touch the Trophy in 2006. Now this season, Dungy’s left a team in such good shape that anyone, even a amateur HVAC guy like Caldwell, can win a Super Bowl. If the Colts emerge victorious, Dungy belongs in the most hallowed of coaching conversations.

I guess we should start calling him Bill.