Tony Dungy's Thoughts on Steve McNair

Tony Dungy, a strong Christian and respected former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, offers some thoughtful insight on the recent tragedy involving former NFL quarterback Steve McNair. I recently discovered Coach Dungy's blog and have enjoyed his perspective on life, family, football and mentoring. About the McNair situation, Dungy has this to say:

"What went wrong? Right now we can only guess, but perhaps time will answer some of the questions. There is going to be a tendency to say, “We should remember the good things Steve did and not focus on the negative.” And we should remember all the great things he did on the field for the Titans and in the Nashville community. We also shouldn’t focus on the information that has come out in the last few days in a purely judgmental way. But I think it would be a mistake to just ignore the more disturbing parts of the McNair story.

I think the best thing we could do is try to learn from it. In my mind, the lesson is that no matter how successful we are, no matter how many good things we do in life, we are all susceptible to temptation and bad choices. And one bad choice can ruin your life; just as it appears to have happened to Steve McNair, it can happen to me.

As a Christian, I believe in the Bible, and it talks a lot about temptations and also about the consequences of sin and bad choices. Christians aren’t immune from those temptations or consequences. It appears that Steve McNair made a bad decision as a married man, just as Governor Sanford of South Carolina did, going down a disastrous path with another woman. Those relationships could have started out very innocently, and maybe even with good intentions in mind. However, at some point, both men had to make decisions on the direction those relationships would take, and both men apparently made the wrong choice. Unfortunately, those decisions will have terrible consequences for them and their families."

You can read Dungy's complete post here.