Grateful Dungy steps down as Colts coach

Tony Dungy has retired after seven years as coach of the Indianapolis Colts, saying this was the right moment.

“These seven years have been better than I could ever have imagined,” Dungy, the only black coach to win a Super Bowl, said at a news conference Monday. “I just have to thank everyone.”

He will be succeeded by associate coach Jim Caldwell.

Dungy, 53, has spent the last five years debating whether to leave football to spend more time with his family.

“Don’t shed any tears for me,” he said. “I got to live a dream most people don’t get to live.”

Dungy is the Colts’ franchise leader in victories. He was 85-27 in the regular season and 7-6 in the playoffs, including a victory over Chicago in the 2007 Super Bowl.

“You don’t always get to go out on top,” Dungy said, “and it’s hard to go out on top.”

The plan to have Caldwell replace Dungy as the Colts’ coach was put in place last year when the coach pondered retirement. A year ago, Caldwell was elevated to associate head coach though he continued to coach quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi.

Dungy’s career, which includes an all-time league-high average of 10.7 regular-season wins, also included tragedy. In December 2005, his son, James, committed suicide while attending school in Tampa, Fla.

He left the Colts for one game, then received the game ball from his players after they made a goal-line stand to beat the Arizona Cardinals in the season finale.

McDaniels takes over Denver duties

Josh McDaniels, the man behind the New England Patriots’ scoring machine, signed a four-year deal to coach the Denver Broncos.

The 32-year-old inherits an offense that needs only an oil change. The defense? That needs an overhaul.

McDaniels replaces Mike Shanahan, the only NFL coach to get fired by a team he led to consecutive Super Bowl wins. Of course, that was in the 1990s. Shanahan won only one playoff game in the decade since John Elway retired, and team owner Pat Bowlen fired him Dec. 30 after the Broncos did not reach the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

Roethlisberger’s injury was serious

Pittsburgh Steelers fans were concerned when Ben Roethlisberger went down against the Cleveland Browns in the final regular-season game. Turns out, they had reason to worry.

The team said then that their franchise quarterback suffered a concussion, but the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Monday that the injury was more serious.

Roethlisberger suffered a spinal cord concussion, and he called it “scary” when he could not feel team doctors sticking a pin into his arm on the field.

At Pittsburgh’s Presbyterian Hospital, he quickly regained feeling in his arms and was later released. The newspaper reported that he never lost feeling in his legs.

According to the Post-Gazette, Roethlisberger passed all his follow-up tests. He played Sunday as the Steelers beat the San Diego Chargers.