Coaches' success is no cover-up

Smith pleased 'Tampa-2' defense gaining credence

The burden of history won't weigh heavily on either Bears coach Lovie Smith or his former mentor, Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. They'll compete for the ultimate prize in professional football knowing it's ensured that an African-American coach will win the Super Bowl for the first time.

''I won't have to answer all of those questions alone about 'How long have you been a black coach,''' Smith joked in reference to a famous question asked of Doug Williams when he was the first black quarterback in a Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl media crush is renowned for creating some of the dumbest queries in the history of journalism, but Smith welcomes the challenge.

''We're going to get asked the same thing in so many ways,'' he said. ''You just have to be ready for them. The reason you're getting these questions is that you are one of the final two playing, so we can put up with most things.''

Smith appreciates the significance of breaking the coaching color barrier, but ultimately there is a game to be won. Smith's relationship with Dungy will be under the microscope. The fact that both coaches are soft-spoken and gentlemanly in demeanor will be picked apart. And the family tree will be dissected -- former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant Mike Tomlin, also an African American, was hired as the Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Monday, extending the Dungy coaching line to another city.

As important to Smith, who embraces his beliefs with all his being, the philosophy and scheme the coaches run will be celebrated. Super Bowl XLI has to be applauded as a triumph for the so-called Tampa-2 defense, a fact that gives Smith no small amount of joy.

''We take pride in it because we've heard all the stories that, 'Hey, this defense is too simple for you to win a Super Bowl with,''' Smith said. ''Tampa Bay has won with our system. It has one Super Bowl champion. And it will have another. Our philosophy and our system works. It has a proven success rate. It's going to be around for many years.''

The Tampa-2 was popularized by the Buccaneers under Dungy during the mid- to late 1990s. A college quarterback who moved to defensive back in the NFL, Dungy said he adapted the scheme from principles found in the Steelers' playbook from the 1970s designed by Bud Carson. Dungy and Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin shifted the thinking of the scheme by sacrificing the big, physical element of those Steelers defenses for speed to create more big-play ability.

The name Cover-2 comes from the zone coverage that features two safeties each covering half the field and dropping deep to help cornerbacks over the top. The central principle is to generate a pass rush from the front four to force the quarterback to throw the ball before he can wait for the intermediate and deep perimeter routes that are hot spots against the defense.

With four men rushing, seven drop into coverage. The element of the big play is erased by keeping everything underneath, with the added benefit of forcing an offense to be almost perfect to stay in phase and avoid difficult down-and-distance.

The type of player that teams such as the Bears and Colts need is a speedy one with good tackling ability. The Buccaneers' featured players were Warren Sapp as the interior pass rusher, Derrick Brooks as the speedy linebacker and John Lynch as the oversized safety who can step up and hit. The Bucs didn't win the Super Bowl until after Dungy was fired and Jon Gruden was hired, a move that coincided with Simeon Rice blossoming as an added pass rusher.

''If you look at the philosophy, personnel-wise we are all very similar,'' Smith said. ''Look at the Colts. Defensively, it starts up front with [Dwight] Freeney and crew. They have athletic linebackers that can run. In the secondary, you need a big safety. They have Bob Sanders coming into the box, of course. We have a couple of different ones we use.

''The corners are the same type who can give basic run support, physical guys, with one more a pass defender. We are very similar in that, too.''

But just as Mike Holmgren runs a purer form of the West Coast offense than members of his family tree, Dungy runs a cleaner version of the Tampa-2 than many of his proteges, including Smith.

''We blitz more,'' Smith conceded. ''They are more of a vanilla [version]. They are more true to the core of where the system started. We have probably gone off on a little bit different direction with some of the things we've done, mainly with the blitz.''

Smith and defensive coordinator Ron Rivera play more three-deep zones with a safety in the box and sometimes will use man-to-man more than Cover-2 because of the blitz. Smith and his staff are obsessed with turnovers and big plays and do anything to create them.

''For everybody in our family, our signature coverage is still the Cover-2,'' Smith said. ''We will always be linked with that.''

One of the fascinating story lines in this game is the manner in which the teams will attack each other. Giving up size for speed can leave a Cover-2 team vulnerable to the run, and the Colts certainly were that this season with a historically bad run defense. The Bears will try to go up the gut of the field on them.

Conversely, if the Bears' cornerbacks are at the line in press coverage with the idea of handing off receivers to safeties in the deep zones, then the Colts can attack with the tight end in the seam routes.

Many teams run the same type of schemes, but ultimately it's the players who matter most. Even without signature elements of the Tampa-2, such as interior rusher Tommie Harris and safety Mike Brown, the Bears have enough talented players to outplay their defensive counterparts.