With the Super Bowl just hours away, Chicago Bears fans are once again forced to lament what could’ve been back in 2006. They came so close to clinching a second Lombardi trophy for the organization only to watch is crumble in the face of Peyton Manning’s legacy. They seemed to do everything right, including the fastest start in the game’s history thanks to the legendary 92-yard kickoff return touchdown by Devin Hester. People couldn’t believe the Indianapolis Colts actually gave him that chance, leading to a simple question. What was head coach Tony Dungy thinking?
The truth is Dungy started out with the obvious intention of avoiding Hester at all costs. Why bother giving the Bears a potential spark? Just avoid him and put the game in the hands of Rex Grossman. It was a no-brainer. Then, somewhere close to when the game arrived the coach had a change of heart. He gave the green light for his coverage unit to kick it away. Hester predictably made him pay for that hubris. So what was the decisive argument that swayed him?
According to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune, it was a famous passage from the Bible.
While we were in Miami the week of the game, we had a chapel speaker who talked about how David got after Goliath and he wasn’t afraid. Everybody else ran away from Goliath. And David ran right to him. So I started thinking about that and I said to myself, “Gosh, we can’t play scared. We’re kind of playing scared here with Devin Hester and that’s not setting the right tone.” I started to change my mind.
Tony Dungy didn’t play fearless, he played stupid
Emotions had no place in a decision like that. Kicking to Hester was not a question of fear but a question of intelligence. Avoiding him takes away his ability to change the game. Kicking at him does not. The Colts chose the latter option and they paid for it. Only after learning from their mistake did they finally seize control of that game and eventually win. Dungy should consider himself so fortunate the Bears quarterback situation was so bad. He might not have a ring today even somebody even modestly better than Grossman was taking snaps.
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In the end, Hester’s big moment was wasted. Chicago let their early lead slip away and fell 29-17. Grossman put the final dagger in the coffin with his pick-six in the second half. Still a crazy story though. Sometimes the inspiration for decisions can come from the unlikeliest of places. Who knew the most exciting first play in Super Bowl history would be born from reading David vs. Goliath?
