Will NFL Head Coaches Ever Learn?

When are these NFL coaches going to learn to stop pulling their players during the last few weeks of the regular season? It's no coincidence that the teams that make the most of their playoff run aren't rusty. No head coach has been worse about this than Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy. Dungy has had one of the top 2 teams in every year in the past 4 years yet he's made only one trip to the Super Bowl. The one trip he made came in 2006 in which Peyton Manning and the Colts played all 16 of their games and ended up winning the Super Bowl by beating the Chicago Bears.

Let me give you some history. In 2004, the year that Manning threw for then NFL record 49 TD passes, Manning and most of the starters didn't play but 1 series in the final game of the season that year. No one seems to mention or even be aware that Tom Brady would not own the NFL record for TD passes had Manning played a full 16 games that year. Manning would still have the record if he had played that final game. That's all I'll say about that. Getting back to the point, the Colts lost to the Patriots in the Divisional Playoffs to end their year in 2004.

The Patriots in 2004 had the best record in the NFL at 14-2. They had secured home field advantage going into their final game. But, and here's the big difference in coaching, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick played his starters in that "meaningless" game. They played and won that final regular season game and took that momentum into the playoffs. When the Colts played the Patriots guess who was sharper. The Patriots won and went on to win the Super Bowl.

In 2005, this time it was the Colts who had secured home field advantage and again took the final week off. They played their starters for 1 series and had a bye week before playing the Steelers in the Divisional Playoffs.

The Steelers had scratched and clawed the whole season just to make the playoffs that year. They got a Wild Card birth with a win in the final game of the season. But they also had some momentum. Coming off of a win in the Wild Card round, the Steelers faced a Colts team that had not played football in nearly 3 weeks. The Colts were the better team and no one would argue that (maybe Steelers fans). The Colts were just a bit off their game. They ended up losing to the Steelers, who ended up winning the Super Bowl.

I already mentioned in my opening paragraph that the Colts won the Super Bowl in 2006 with the "coincidence" of having to play all 16 games. They didn't even have a playoff bye week that year. they had to play in every round of the playoffs and even had to win on the road (at Baltimore) to get to and finally win the Super Bowl.

This year (2007), the Colts once again had a "meaningless" final week of the season. Dungy played his starters a bit more by playing them for 1 quarter. All I could hear echoing in my brain while seeing Dungy pull his starters were the famous words of NY Jets head coach (now with KC) Herman Edwards, "Hello!?! You play to win the game!" Those words should be preached every week in every NFL locker room. Dungy, once again, took the his foot off the gas. Once again, he allowed his team to "relax". Once again, had nearly 3 weeks off. Once again, they lost in the Divisional round. Meanwhile, the Patriots are going after a perfect season by playing every game with that killer instinct. They never took their feet off the gas. They've won 18 games in a row by being just plain ruthless.

The Giants, who are playing the Patriots in the Super Bowl, played a "meaningless" game in their final week VS. those same Patriots. They got blasted by most of the media for playing their starters in a game that meant nothing. They lost the game but gained some confidence by just about beating the best team on the planet. They had a few injuries in that game but had gained the most important two things there are in sports, confidence and momentum. The Giants isn't even in the top five of the NFL's best teams this year but they did "play to win the game". Now they are going to play the Patriots in what I think will be a very fun Super Bowl. For once I'll be looking forward to watching the game as much as I'll be looking forward to watching the commercials.

In closing, I'd like to give Tony Dungy a little advice. "Hello!?! You play to win the game!"