WHOA NELLY!!! Did anyone see this one coming? Of course we did. I actually saw this coming the second the Indianapolis Colts hired Jim Caldwell. Jim Caldwell was a Barry Switzer-like hire, just without all of the championship rings from coaching college. Let’s take the Delorean back to 1994…
Jimmy Johnson had just stepped down from winning back-to-back championships with the Dallas Cowboys. Mr. Plastic Jerry Jones as Owner, President, GM, Emporer, Pharoah, Caesar, etc. wanted a puppet. He wanted a man that he could control, a man that would go with the flow and do it Jerry’s way. Jimmy Johnson was too much of a free-thinker and rattled too many of Jones’ cages. Now, I think the same applies to Mr. Bill Polian circa 2009. Tony Dungy, who didn’t rattle cages like Johnson but did have success, had just retired and Polian needed his own Pinochio. In comes poor Jim Caldwell. Caldwell would go with the flow and just drive the Manning-hini. Now, when the Colts hired Caldwell I was flabbergasted. Why in the world would the Colts want Mr. Wake Forest-fail to come in and coach what was the 2nd most successful franchise in the 2000′s? Well, Mr. Polian wanted a puppet to go along with his master plan.
Let’s get back to the Twin Lone Pine Mall. Exit Bill Polian and son, enter Ryan Grigson as GM and exit Jim Caldwell. Caldwell never should have been the head coach of the Colts in the first place but there is more to the story of the epic Peyton Manning-less colapse of the 2011 Indianapolis Colts.
Now, I have never been a real big believer in conspiracy theories (although the movie is very underrated). I don’t believe the NBA is rigged to have the biggest star always win. I don’t believe that Curt Schilling used ketchup on his sock. I don’t believe the NBA fixed Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals to have the Lakers beat the Kings. I don’t believe the Home Run Kings in baseball in the late 80′s to early 00′s used steroids…oh, wait…I guess that one was true, but I digress. I have to say after watching the crash and burn that was the Colts this year it leaves one to wonder what was going on behind closed doors.
I do believe there probably was a little something extra going on behind the scenes. Did the Colts tank to get the 1st pick and be able to draft Andrew Luck? Let’s remember this is a team to get wiped out by the Saints 62-7. Would Polian have his team put it on cruise control to just get through the season guaranteed of being able to draft Luck? The better question might be would he not consider it? Maybe this is all pure speculation and the Colts just sucked that bad. But is one man, even a QB and even a QB as great as Peyton Manning, able to turn a team that was extremely lucky to not lose every game into a consistent 10+ win team and not only win a Super Bowl but to also get to another one? I do think Polian was horrible at drafting over the past 3 or so years but this bad? I also don’t believe that Peyton would be able to take a team that showed this much lack of talent to the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl. So this just leads me to think something fishy/dirty was going on.
We’ll probably never know a true answer. But, it does look like this franchise is in the re-making phase. With a new GM and soon a new coach, the Colts will almost likely be picking up Andrew Luck and not looking to add a bunch of extra picks to stock up for one or so last runs at a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning. If this happens, could we be seeing the reverse of the 1980′s-90′s 49ers? Remember Montana brought them 4 titles while Young brought them a 5th. Could it be Manning brings them 1 while Luck brings them 4 more? Only time will tell. Maybe, they just stick with Peyton Manning and trade out to the Washington Redskins…we all could only hope this true.
