Dungy returns

I see Tony Dungy has decided to return for another season with the Colts. That's all well and good; Dungy is a respectable man, and I wish him well. But I hope he learned something from what's happened in the playoffs this year.

We Browns fans won't soon forget that our team missed the playoffs because they had to play 16 games against teams that were trying to win, while the Tennessee Titans only had to play 15 games against teams that were trying to win. In their 16th game, they played Dungy's Colts, defending Super Bowl champions, who were locked into the AFC's #2 seed, win or lose. So they decided to go ahead and lose. Peyton Manning and most of the other starters came out in the second quarter, and the Titans' starters were able to beat the Colts' backups.

A few other coaches did the same, but Dungy was the only one whose decision to rest his starters directly affected who did or did not get into the playoffs. The conventional wisdom around the NFL was, hey, he's got to do what's best for his team. But did he really do what was best for his team?

Among other teams whose coaches didn't try to win in week 17, in the interest of preserving their starters for the playoffs, were the Jaguars, Buccaneers, Packers and Steelers. The Packers managed to win their last regular-season game anyway. The only one of the remaining teams to win a playoff game was Jacksonville, but that was against Pittsburgh, and someone had to win.

The Cowboys rested anyone who was questionable, but played most of their starters in a blowout loss to Washington. They fell to the Giants in the playoffs.

The Chargers played hard in week 17; they were playing for the third seed in the AFC, but they had a playoff spot clinched. They went on to upset Dungy's boys to set up a date with the Patriots in the AFC Championship.

But I keep coming back to the game that was played the Saturday of week 17, in which neither team had anything to play for in terms of playoff seeding, but both teams did their best to win. The Patriots were playing for an undefeated season, and the Giants were trying to stop them. New England won a hard-fought 38-35 thriller. And hey, look who's in the Super Bowl!

This is just one season's worth of results, but it sure seems to prove that every team should try to win its last game. If you rest your starters for the playoffs, they won't be sharp, and you will lose.

And dadgummit, the Browns should have gotten in.