The church family supported the Dungys after their son James' death in 2005. While they have maintained ties with a congregation in Tampa, Northside New Era Missionary Baptist Church has been their spiritual home in Indianapolis.

"As a pastor, usually everyone's looking up to me but he's one that I can look up to and watch his witness, so I'm blessed to have him as part of our team," said Rev. Moore.

Disappointing end to good regular season
Meanwhile, Dungy talked about this season's abrupt and disheartening end.

The coach said it was tough to realize that the team did in fact have a good regular season, but that it was overshadowed by "not winning that last game." He added, "It's even more disappointing when you feel like you don't play your best." But Dungy gave a lot of credit to the Chargers, whom he acknowledged came to Indianapolis in tough circumstances with the loss of some key players.

"You don't get do-overs. You don't get repeats and you don't get second chances," Dungy said. He said the team will do what they've always done: "Come back in March, and start over in square one and have a great 2008 season."

That comment implies that the coach is still thinking of staying on with the Colts. But reports that his son enrolled in a high school in Tampa have fueled speculation that he is considering a move.

Loss to San Diego
Interceptions and a fumble were the Colts' downfall Sunday. While San Diego couldn't stop Peyton Manning's offense from steadily marching downfield most of the game, it could make the key plays that get teams closer to the Super Bowl.

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For the Colts (13-4), it was a bitterly quick elimination from the postseason. A year ago, they won three playoff games, then beat Chicago in the Super Bowl. They couldn't recapture their touch on offense or defense this time, and a defense that allowed the fewest points during the season wore down against the equally physical Chargers.

The Colts went in front 24-21 when Gonzalez slipped past Marlon McCree down the left sideline to complete a 55-yard scoring play with 10:07 to go. Chargers coach Norv Turner challenged that Gonzalez stepped out of bounds at about the 25, but the play stood.

San Diego's backups then won it, helped by a 27-yard screen pass to rookie Legedu Naanee and a 15-yard face-mask penalty against Indianapolis cornerback Marlin Jackson. Manning did throw for 402 yards, completing 33 of his 48 throws, but both interceptions killed deep scoring threats.

"When the year ends and we don't have the trophy, you go back to work and you really look forward to a great 2008 and that's what I'm looking forward to with the new stadium, with a team that's gonna be outstanding on all the guys coming back. That's where the focus is gonna be on," Irsay said of the coming year. "You wanna win it all each year. It was a tough one for us but we're gonna persevere and move on."