Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: Since 1981, it's all been leading up to this

By Jonathan Comey

Cold, Hard Football Facts history minor

Bill Belichick and Tony Dungy are certainly no strangers to NFL coaching, with 57 years on the sidelines between them. Dungy joined Belichick on the anonymous list of NFL assistant coaches in 1981, and 26 years later here they are coaching in the biggest fight since the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

But despite their years in the league toiling together on the same coaching ladeer, two of the league’s most successful coaches have only met a handful of times.

From 1981-2002, they mostly avoided each other by coaching in different conferences. Belichick made his name in NFC with the Giants, Dungy made his in the AFC with the Steelers.

Then, after Belichick jumped to the AFC with Cleveland in 1991, Dungy jumped to the NFC in 1992 with Minnesota. Belichick stayed in the AFC East with the Patriots, Jets and then Patriots as head coach, while Dungy stayed in the NFC North as head man in Tampa..

They could have been division rivals when Dungy took the head coaching job with Indy in 2002, but realignment sent the Colts from the AFC East to the South.

All in all, they did a pretty good job avoiding each other … until they both vaulted to the top of the AFC.

Here are their 12 previous meetings, fittingly six wins for Dungy, six for Belichick.

Week 16, 1985: Dungy is in his second season as defensive coordinator for the Steelers, just 30 years old and coaching under legendary Chuck Noll. Belichick is also a young defensive coordinator, just 32 and studying under maturing master Bill Parcells. But the Giants are becoming a finely tuned machine under Parcells while the Steelers are struggling with mediocre talent. It’s a mismatch.

Final score: Belichick 28, Dungy 10.

Week 12, 1992: Dungy is defensive coordinator for the Vikings, in his first year after three seasons as a defensive assistant in Kansas City. Belichick is in his second year as head coach of the Browns, and his season is at a crossroads at 5-5. Cleveland’s defense holds Minnesota to 141 total yards, but Dungy’s Viking defense forced four turnovers and hands the Browns a season-defining loss in Minnesota.

Final score: Dungy 17, Belichick 13.

Week 15, 1995: Dungy is defensive coordinator for the Vikings, and despite Minny’s No. 27 rank in defensive scoring, he’s being talked about as a head-coaching candidate. Belichick is in his last season as head man in Cleveland-soon-to-be-Baltimore, and he’s being talked about as an ex-coaching candidate. The game goes accordingly.

Final score: Dungy 27, Belichick 11.

Week 16, 1997: Belichick is in his first year as defensive coordinator of the Jets, Dungy in his second year coaching the Bucs. Both teams are surprisingly good after struggling the prior season, but Tampa’s subpar offense meets its match in Belichick’s stingy defense. The Jets allow just 111 yards, and Tampa completes just 3 of 22 passes in the humiliating defeat.

Final score: Belichick 31, Dungy 0.

Week 1, 2000: No one remembers it now, but Belichick’s first game as head coach of the Patriots comes against Dungy and the fearsome Tampa defense. In a defensive struggle between two defensive coaches, the Bucs hold QB Drew Bledsoe to 4.2 net yards per attempt and Belichick’s legend remains unwritten.

Final score: Dungy 21, Belichick 16.

Week 13, 2003: The rivalry arrives. In their first heads-up game as big dogs of the AFC, the Colts and Patriots produce a game that is high-scoring but actually well-defended. Neither Tom Brady (6.1 yards per attempt, 2 INTs) or Peyton Manning (5.4 per attempt, 1 INT) plays well, and Bethel Johnson’s 92-yard kick return is the difference as Indy’s game-winning drive ends at the goal line.

Final score: Belichick 38, Dungy 34.

AFC title game, 2003: Patriots fans break out the “Colts can’t beat us” talk as Manning throws four interceptions at snowy Foxboro. Belichick’s coaching legend is more or less assured with Manning’s terrible, squinty performance, and Dungy is written off as the coach that can’t win the big one.

Final score: Belichick 24, Dungy 14.

Week 1, 2004: Tom Brady has one of his best games ever, throwing for 335 yards and three TDs (111.2 rating) to offset Edgerrin James’ 140 yards rushing and the Colts’ 28 first downs. Somewhere, a disgruntled Colts fan registers for www.firedungy.com.

Final score: Belichick 27, Dungy 24.

AFC divisional playoff, 2004 season: Now it’s official: Dungy simply can’t beat Belichick. With his secondary not playing at full strength, Belichick puts in the game plan: run, run, run. The pass-first Pats run the ball 39 times, controlling the clock (37:43 time of possession) and taking James out of the equation (14 carries).

Final score: Belichick 20, Dungy 3.

Week 9, 2005: Colts Nation finally gets what it craves almost as much as a Super Bowl title – a win over the hated Patriots, in New England no less. The Colts put up 453 yards of total offense, suggesting that maybe there’s a little bit of genius in what they do as well. New England fans scoff: let’s see you beat us when it counts!

Final score: Dungy 40, Belichick 21.

Week 9, 2006: Maybe the most even game of the Dungy-Belichick battles. Indy 354 yards, Patriots 349. Both teams with 24 first downs. Trading scores in both halves, nothing back-to-back by either team. And it was Dungy turning the tables on Belichick, his defense forcing four Tom Brady INTs in a parallel of the 2003 title game when Manning threw four of his own.

Final score: Dungy 27, Belichick 20.

AFC title game, 2006 season: Simply, one of the greatest games ever played, with both coaches and their teams playing at the top of their abilities. If Dungy didn’t get enough credit before this game, he got it afterward – any team that comes down from a 21-3 deficit in the playoffs has inherited something special from its coach. Three in a row for the Colts … can they make it No. 4 on Sunday? Or will Belichick take a 7-6 head-to-head lead? Stay tuned ….

Final score: Dungy 38, Belichick 34