Playoff Success Historical Perspective

[MJS87]

I get what you are saying OP.. I really do. And I'm as big of a Colts fan as anyone. BUT realistically, not every team has been as fortunate as we have with back to back QBs that will probably both end up being considered top 5 all time. So when that is the case, you are held to a different standard.

 

If we had had QBs like Orton, Stafford, David Garrard, Chad Pennington, etc. for all those years what we accomplished would be nothing short of incredible. BUT we had possibly the greatest QB ever and wasted much of his career with bad drafting and early playoff exits. When you have QBs as good as Manning and Luck you SHOULD go deep into the playoffs most years. With Luck as our qb for the future, we have a very real possibility of winning MANY super bowls. 

[Two_pound]

Excellent post, I feel the same way. The Colts, in these past 16 years are unmatched in success in many ways. Too many people listen to the *s on tv and think they are speaking the truth as they are abusing the Colts. What a joke. I have been a Colt fan since 1968, that's right, the year they lost to the pathetic jest in the sb. Peyton Manning, the greatest qb of all time, turned this moribound franchise around with his great talent and work ethic. We made the playoffs a grand total 3 times in the 20 years prior to Peyton('78-'97). Since then, not counting Peytons' rookie year we are 14 of 16 years in the playoffs.Excellence personified!!!!!!! Thank you for this great and accurate post

[MJS87]

I think we can all agree that the QB is the most important part of a football team and when you don't have a really really good one, you have almost no shot of long term success unless the rest of your team is absolutely stacked, like the Seahawks and 49ers the past couple years. 

 

I truly believe that Manning has been a superior qb to Brady his whole career, so the fact that we weren't as successful as the pats is really a disappointment, and represents a big failure on the part of our FO and coaches. Which is exactly what Irsay meant when he said he was disappointed we only had 1 SB in the PM era. I feel EXTREMELY fortunate that we lucked into having both PM and Luck, but not necessarily with our results with them, as division titles and deep playoff runs should be nearly automatic with qbs of that caliber. 

[Nesjan3]

The Colts make the AFC Championship and are playing for a trip to the Super Bowl!

 

A lot of forum members tend to be very negative about the team, berating Grigson and Pagano and saying how they are just bad (Grigson making bad personnel moves and Pagano being bad at coaching), that the team is a joke that will be one and done, blah blah blah, yet here they are, in a conference Championship game!

 

To perhaps put things into perspective about just how difficult a thing it really is to make a conference championship game, consider this ... I became a Colts fan in 1966.  For those that don't want to do the math, that's 48 years.  During that 48 years span, the Colts have won the Super Bowl twice and in total played in the Super Bowl four times.

 

How many times have they made it to the conference championship game you ask?  The answer is ...

 

a grand total of only seven (7) times before this year, this year now being only the 8th time in my 48 years of cheering on the horseshoe that they've made it to the conference final game!

 

My point is, although some of you may think that anything less than a Super Bowl is a failure, I think with a lifetime of cheering on a team, you may come to realize how rare success like this really is!

 

Also consider that since the Colts drafted Manning, the Colts have been one of the most successful teams in the NFL year in and year out, yet since being in last place in 1997 and only 3-13 in Manning's rookie season of 1998, as successful as the Colts have been, since after Manning's rookie season, this is only the 4th time they will be playing in the AFC Championship game. That's only 4 times in 16 years.  

 

During that span, how does this level of success (failure in too many people's eyes) compare to other teams in the AFC?

 

In the AFC there are only two teams that have made it to the AFC Final more than the Colts:  Pittsburgh Steelers (5 times) and New England Patriots (now 9 times).  The Baltimore Ravens have matched the Colts 4 times.

 

Next Sunday New England is a heavy favorite, with the line pegging the Patriots as seven point favorites.  Yes, the Colts are definite underdogs.  They will most likely lose.  Sadly, if they lose, naysayers will likely come onto the forums calling for Pagano's head and or Grigson's head, citing the Colts failures from a personnel standpoint and from a coaching standpoint.

 

I submit, though, these negative people have almost no perspective to appreciate just how fantastic of an accomplishment it is that these Colts, only three years removed from being the worst team in Football, are once again oh so close to the Big Game!  Only 7 times before this year, in all of my 48 years of cheering on the Colts, has this level of success been attained!

 

I am not saying that we should simply be satisfied, for every year the goal is to be the single best team, to be the only team fortunate enough to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.  What I am saying, though, is that regardless of whether we win or lose next week in Foxborough, and especially if we lose, one should keep in mind just how rare a playoff run like this actually is.

 

What a year it's been!  Go Colts! 

you sayd it right all lot of the younger fans who began during the Manning era don't know whats its like to be losers. I geuss you could call them spoiled, the late 70's and early 80's were just hard to watch, we will see the brat come out and bash our team if we lose sunday, but its good to see other people on here that get it