Don Shula is the only coach in NFL history to lead a team to an unbeaten, untied season. But Shula acknowledges that he’s worried he won’t have that distinction all to himself much longer.
Shula thinks this year’s Colts or Saints are each capable of winning three more games in the regular season and three in the postseason and join his 1972 Miami Dolphins in finishing a season with an unblemished record.
“They’re a legitimate concern,” Shula said of the Colts and Saints in an interview with the Fox affiliate in Orlando. “I’m rooting secretly inside that somebody beats them.”
But Shula insists that he and his former players aren’t the spoilsports they’re sometimes portrayed as. The coach was effusive with his praise of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and he said he could even see the teams both being 18-0 and meeting each other in the Super Bowl.
If that happens, Shula says, he’ll be the first to reach out to the winning coach.
“We’re very proud of that but we’re not a bunch of angry old men that sit around and can’t wait for that last undefeated team to get beat,” Shula said. “If somebody breaks that record . . . I’m going to call that coach and congratulate him.”