Unbelievable story is not to be believed

Steve Serby

So let me get this straight: A coach would be willing to throw the Super Bowl so his buddy, coaching the other team, would win because he hated the organization he was able to get to the Super Bowl.

I'd sooner believe Manti Te'o's girlfriend was real.

Ten years later, we are hearing from Tim Brown and Jerry Rice that Raiders coach Bill Callahan changed the game plan two days before Super Bowl XXXVII so Jon Gruden and the Bucs could hoist the Lombardi Trophy? That Callahan would sacrifice a moment of crowning glory to allow Gruden, who left as Raiders coach, to stick it to Al Davis?

I'd sooner believe anything Lance Armstrong says.

"We all called it sabotage," Brown says.

I call it rubbish.

"Give me a break," Gruden texted USA Today.

Give all of us a break, too.

I'd sooner believe Callahan was driven to change the game plan because he feared Gruden knew Raiders tendencies like the back of his hand.

Or would it be too far-fetched to believe the late Davis, first-ballot Paranoid Hall of Famer, may have ordered his puppet coach to change the game plan?

I'd almost sooner believe former Baltimore Colts defensive end Bubba Smith, who wrote in a book that the Super Bowl III Jets' 16-7 upset for the ages was fixed.

"This might sound crazy," Smith said, "but I don't think the game was kosher. In order for the [AFL-NFL] merger to go through, [the Jets] had to win."

This accusation is crazier.

The Raiders quarterback that day was Rich Gannon, now a CBS analyst.

"He is a good football coach," Gannon said of Callahan on Sirius XM NFL Radio. "He is a good man. I don't think he would intentionally ever [not try to win]. There was too much vested in trying to become world champion. We all wanted to win. I'm sure Bill Callahan was one of them."

Here's what people seem to have forgotten: Marc Trestman, the new Bears coach, called the plays, not Callahan.

I was at the game. Gruden had the better team, case closed. And Gruden was the better coach, case closed. The Raiders couldn't run the ball and fell behind and probably didn't change the verbiage and terminology enough.

Center Barret Robbins bolted because he was upset the game plan was changed? It was reported at the time he had some kind of breakdown.

And people tell me Callahan was devastated for a long time after the game.

Eric Mangini vouched for Callahan's character last night. I expect many others to follow suit. Brown, and especially Rice, have had countless great moments in the NFL. This isn't one of them.

steve.serby@nypost.com

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