Lovie looking to avoid another Super Bowl battle scar

Bears coach Lovie Smith still carries a mental scar from a Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots while serving as St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator in 2001.

At the risk of giving a similar scar to his good friend, Tony Dungy, Smith doesn't want to experience that again in Super Bowl XLI when the Bears face the Indianapolis Colts on Feb. 4 in Miami.

"First off, we lost that game and that feeling I will never forget," Smith said Monday at Halas Hall, a day after the Bears reached the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years. "I have a scar -- that's a scar that will never go away of a loss in that Super Bowl. I don't want that feeling again, but it was a great experience.

"Back then there was only one week in between the championship game and the Super Bowl. It went by so quick. I remember the game, but a lot of the other good things that happened during the week I don't remember. This time, of course we have two weeks, we've had a chance to really soak it in a little bit having two weeks in between and I'll just say we're going to enjoy every moment and every step we take along the way."

On Monday morning, part of that enjoyment meant phoning Dungy, who served as his mentor and boss with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2000 before Smith resigned his linebackers coach position to go to St. Louis.

"A dream of mine was to have a chance to play the Colts," Smith said. "My dream was for Tony Dungy to get to the Super Bowl. That dream has been fulfilled.

"Now it's about the Chicago Bears trying to win the Super Bowl."

Smith offered Dungy congratulations on beating New England in the AFC championship game.

"I heard excitement in his voice right away, when I finally let him speak a little bit," Smith said. "This was a time that we both wanted going into the weekend.

"When people asked me, I let everyone know that I wanted the Colts to win. We wanted an opportunity to play them and that dream came true."

Smith served under Dungy on a Tampa staff that included Chiefs coach Herman Edwards and Lions coach Rod Marinelli. The cover-2 defense the Bears use is similar to the one the Colts use.

"I learned a lot of football through him," Smith said of Dungy. "We talk about some of the basic philosophies and things like that. I had similar philosophies on how you won football games, too."

Smith said beyond the cover-2, their coaching philosophies are similar in that they want the coaches under them to be "a teacher instead of screaming, yelling, all that stuff. But in the end, whatever your approach is, you have to win. Tony's always been a winner."

The Bears have faced Dungy's Colts only once in the regular season since Smith became head coach. In 2004, the Bears lost 41-10 to Indianapolis at Soldier Field.

That season, Smith's first with the team, the Bears suffered through a 5-11 mark. They were without the injured Brian Urlacher and Mike Brown and had Craig Krenzel playing quarterback. Colts running back Edgerrin James gained 204 yards rushing against them and Peyton Manning threw for four touchdown passes in Indianapolis' win.

The teams also faced each other in the preseason on Aug. 20, 2005, with Chad Hutchinson struggling at first-string quarterback in place of an injured Rex Grossman and the Bears' first-team defense playing well against Manning in a 24-17 Bears victory at the RCA Dome.

"I just know the type of teams that Tony always puts on the field: tough, hard-nosed defense and of course we know what they bring to the table offensively," Smith said. "So it'll be a big challenge for us, but that's how it's supposed to be when there's two teams playing and it should be a heck of a game."