Coverly took a year off from graduate school, and during that time he was an art director for a public relations firm and an editorial cartoonist for the ''Battle Creek Enquirer''. He returned to Indiana in 1990 and became the editorial cartoonist for ''The Herald-Times'' in Bloomington, Indiana. His work appeared in ''Esquire'', ''The Saturday Evening Post'', ''The New York Times'' and ''USA Today''. After Creators Syndicate picked up his untitled cartoon panel in 1994, it was given the title ''Speed Bump'' and, a year later, it was running in more than 90 papers. In 1995, Coverly left ''The Herald-Times'' to concentrate on ''Speed Bump''.
Dave and Chris Coverly live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with their children, Alayna and Simone.