From triumph to tragedy

The Indianapolis Colts are 13-1 and are still the odds-on favorite to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl despite losing their first game of the season last Sunday. But that must all seem so far away to coach Tony Dungy right now.
He is preparing to bury his 18-year-old son, James, after he was found unconscious and not breathing in his Tampa-area apartment early Thursday morning. Efforts to revive him were not successful.
Pre-autopsy reports list James Dungy's death as a suicide.
Tony Dungy has fought uphill battles in his football life before, but probably none like this, none where his personal and public lives collide so sharply.
Dungy is one of the NFL's true good guys, soft-spoken but at the same time a strong leader and excellent tactician. As coach of the Buccaneers, he was unfairly pigeonholed as merely a defensive specialist with no feel for the offensive side of the ball. Three appearances in the NFC championship game with no victories only perpetuated the myth. No one seems to remember how good the Buccaneers were on defense, that they held the high-octane St. Louis Rams to 10 points in the 1999 NFC title game.
Nobody remembers the Bucs had a slog-it-out offense, relying on running backs Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott while limiting the effect revolving-door quarterbacks like Trent Dilfer and Shaun King had on the game.
Dungy made the sad-sack Bucs a league force for the first time in franchise history. His reward? To be fired after the 2001 season and replaced by Jon Gruden, who promptly led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl win.
That year, the Bucs had Brad Johnson for a quarterback, a sizeable upgrade over anybody Dungy had under center.
Dungy landed in Indianapolis, where he took over a team that had offense in spades, but no defense. He molded the Colts defense into one of the fastest units in the NFL, and paired with the Colts' dominant offense, led Indy to a 13-0 start this season, prior to a loss to San Diego this past week.
Somewhere, the 1972 Dolphins were toasting the end of this lastest, failed attempt at a perfect season.
Dungy has handled all the near misses, all the close brushes with greatness, with the same quiet dignity that has made him popular in NFL circles. No matter the failure, he always seems to be working toward the next goal. It is a great trait for a coach to have.
Now Dungy and his Colts will have to endure a horrible time that will test the mettle of the team. James Dungy's death could unify the Colts and steel their resolve, but that is asking a lot a mere 48 hours after his death.
There will be too much grief, too much stress, and too many distractions these final two weeks of the regular season as the Colts try to maintain a grip on their rudder, the rudder Dungy has so expertly handled this year.
Football has been on the minds of the Colts pretty much nonstop since July. It is a shock, two weeks from the start of the playoffs, when football seems so distant. But there is still a job to do.
If the Colts can emege from James Dungy's death a stronger team, it should cement Dungy's greatness as an NFL coach, even if he never wins a Super Bowl.
Sometimes, greatness isn't measured in hardware. Sometimes, it is measured in your ability to maintain inner strength through the pain life deals you.