Indianapolis Colts Football Team

Times staff writer Lonnie White takes a look at the key matchup inside Sunday's showdown at Indianapolis between the NFL's only undefeated teams, the Colts and the New England Patriots: There's no denying that New England's dynamic passing combination of Tom Brady and Randy Moss has dominated NFL highlights over the first half of the season.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Indianapolis Colts are defending Super Bowl champions, have a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Peyton Manning, and -- after a 29-7 victory over Jacksonville on Monday -- are 6-0 for a third consecutive season. Still, they're playing in the shadow of the New England Patriots. That makes the Colts the Greatest Sideshow on Turf.

Three victories do not a season make, but a handful of NFL teams have started the 2007 season undefeated and taken a big step toward the playoffs. The select group includes preseason favorites Indianapolis and New England, mild surprises Dallas and Pittsburgh, and a bigger surprise in Green Bay.

INDIANAPOLIS -- With all the breath-holding going on in the RCA Dome on Thursday night, it's a wonder Colts fans didn't turn as blue as their jerseys. When would Peyton Manning cut loose? When would he shred the New Orleans Saints -- a team especially susceptible to the big pass play -- the way he strafed the Chicago Bears seven months earlier in Super Bowl XLI?

INDIANAPOLIS -- The last time the Indianapolis Colts played a meaningful game, they were drenched by a South Florida downpour. The last time the New Orleans Saints played one that counted, they were frozen by a bitter-cold Chicago squall. And tonight, with the eyes of the NFL watching and the climate-controlled RCA Dome tuned to a shirt-sleeve 70 degrees, a new storm is brewing -- a high-pressure system that will establish a pecking order atop the league.

Tony Dungy made no promises, but the Indianapolis coach indicated Monday that he plans to be around next fall when the Colts set out to defend their Super Bowl title. There had been conjecture he might step down, perhaps to pursue a Christian ministry, after reaching the NFL mountaintop.

All those taunts from Steve Spurrier, who used to say you can't spell the Citrus Bowl without UT, a swipe at Peyton Manning's inability to win the big game at the University of Tennessee. All those images of Bill Belichick dancing around inside Manning's head after all those Patriots victories over the Colts, including two in the playoffs. All those questions after last year's home playoff loss to the Steelers after a nearly flawless regular season.

The difficult financial decisions facing teams in the NFL each season forced the Colts to do something they once thought unimaginable. They let Edgerrin James, who gained more than 1,000 yards five times in his seven seasons in Indianapolis, sign with the Arizona Cardinals during the off-season after he had gained 1,506 yards and scored 13 touchdowns in 2005. There simply wasn't enough money to satisfy everyone under the salary cap.

It was Chicago Bears weather, rain blowing across Dolphin Stadium in dark and flapping sheets. It was a Chicago Bears crowd, the huddled orange masses filling the place with monosyllabic chants and multicolored cheers. It was even a Chicago Bears lead, eight points up on the stunned Indianapolis Colts late in the first quarter. Then, at the worst possible moment Sunday, the worst possible collection of party crashers showed up. The Chicago Bears.

You'd hate to reduce a man's life to two words, to think that they could replace 51 years of living, lessons and even losses, but it fills me with joy that these two applied to Tony Dungy on Sunday night: "Winning Coach." They were written in white letters on a blue sign, next to a dais Dungy earned the right to ascend by virtue of the Indianapolis Colts' 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Dungy climbed up and smiled.