The Indianapolis Colts’ 2015 season will be remembered as the biggest flop in quite sometime to some people. Others will remember it as the season where five quarterbacks played and were able to win 8 games throughout the entire season. The Colts landed themselves at 8-8 after many preseason projections of a 12+ win season and a trip to San Francisco to bring home another Lombardi Trophy. This was to be the season where the Colts lit up the scoreboard with all their offensive weapons and one of, if not the, best young quarterbacks in the game. They were to make the “Greatest Show on Turf” look sad in comparison. Obviously that didn’t happen.
The Colts season started with two losses to two of the three teams in the state of New York. In both of these games Andrew Luck played like he had never touched a football before. Errant throws and looking lost for the most part of both games were disheartening. It was the third game of the season against divisional foe the Tennessee Titans where the Colts were able to get their first win on another comeback by the Colts and their young gunslinger. This win took something that none of us saw coming. It took Andrew Luck out for a couple of weeks and placed the torch in 40 year old Matt Hasselbeck’s hands.
This was also when reports came out about the dysfunctional relationship between head coach Chuck Pagano and GM Ryan Grigson. There were reports that Grigson was making moves without Pagano’s input and that many of the signings and the draft picks were completely on Grigson and that Pagano had no say in the matters. This would be something that effected the team for the remainder of the season and the spread of many rumors.
Despite what many thought, Hasselbeck was able to get the guys to rally around him and pull out two wins against division foes the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans. Hasselbeck looked like a 28 year old veteran out there playing a kids game again. He looked like he was having fun and that was infectious to his teammates who seemed to start to loosen up more and more with each series. Starting the season 3-2 wasn’t what the Colts fanbase had hoped would happen, but after the starting quarterback went down we would take it. The dreaded annual New England Patriots battle was coming up and many were wondering if Luck was going to be fully healed, if he would play, and if he’d play like he had the first two weeks.
Andrew Luck lead the Colts to a first half lead in the New England game and it seemed that the team was there to play and get some redemption for the AFC Championship embarrassment suffered in January. That would all come crashing down though when Coach Chuck Pagano called a fake punt that resembled the “pull cat” and it was such a botched play that the Colts ended up giving the Patriots great field position. It later came out that there were so many things wrong with the play that a timeout should have been called to prevent the egregious error that occurred when Griff Whalen inadvertently snapped the ball as center.
The Colts were able to play the Patriots very well throughout most of the game, but lost by seven points. This would be the start of a three game losing streak that would include a six point loss to the New Orleans Saints and a three point loss in the pouring down rain to the, then undefeated, Carolina Panthers in overtime. Luck continued to struggle with his accuracy and his ability to read the defenses as he had in the past three seasons. The Colts were gearing up for a face-off with the Sheriff, Peyton Manning, again and all the hopes were that the Colts could stop the losing streak at home against the best defense in the NFL.
After the Carolina Panthers game, Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton was given his walking papers. The Colts offense wasn’t explosive enough and wasn’t really hitting on all cylinders with him at the helm. Abandoning the run game when it would work and throwing deep on almost every play kept making the Colts play catch up. Coach Pagano was able to insert Rob Chudzinski, or Chud, into that position with hopes that he could find some creative ways to make Pep’s playbook more effective.
The Colts were able to give the Denver Broncos defense all they wanted and were able to get a three point win in Lucas Oil Stadium against the undefeated elder horses, but yet again something else bigger happened than any of us knew at the end of the game. Andrew Luck had sustained a lacerated kidney after a vicious hit and continued to play the rest of the game and lead the team to an upset win. At that point we would not see Andrew Luck on the field for the remainder of the season. Sure there were reports that he was progressing well during the season but I’m sure many Colts fans knew that he would be done for the season. It was at that point again the Colts handed over the reigns to Matt Hasselbeck, but we all were pretty happy about it as he had done so well in his first stint in covering for his starter.
The Colts then met up with the NFC South Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and were able to get the wins with great defensive efforts and Hasselbeck still had the offense running fairly well. Those would be the last really good thing to happen for the Colts the remainder of the season.
The Steelers were able to handle the Colts and Hasselbeck took a beating at the hands of the Steelers defenders. Hasselbeck and the offense really struggled the next week against an opponent that many felt would be a test, but one that the Colts could handle. The Jaguars had been beaten so badly by the Colts in previous contests that we all thought the Colts may have a small problem with the newly found success of the Jags offense, but no one thought that the Jaguars would hang 51 points on the Colts and their rebuttal would be a measly 16. This was the most embarrassing loss for the Colts team all season by far.
The next week the Colts knew they had to beat Houston to practically secure the AFC South and a playoff spot. The good thing was the game was in Lucas Oil Stadium and they had never lost to the Texans at home. This was another game where the Colts offense couldn’t find a rhythm and Hasselbeck took more of a beating. A shocking defeat at the hands of Houston wasn’t the only loss that day. Charlie “Clipboard Jesus” Whitehurst was inserted in every game since the Steelers game to give Hasselbeck’s body a break and it was painfully obvious that Hasselbeck had lost the magic. This was going to be a difficult road through the final two games.
Hasselbeck gave it a go against the Miami Dolphins, but wasn’t able to finish and Whitehurst lead the team to a win. However, this would be the last time we would see either of them on the field. Hasselbeck couldn’t go any longer after all the hits he had taken and Whitehurst was placed on injured reserve. So the question became, “Who is going to play quarterback?” and that question was answered during the week’s preparation for the final game of the 2015 season.
The Colts brought in Josh Freeman and Ryan Lindley to compete for the start and was it Freeman that landed the nod. At this point the Colts were still mathematically in the playoff hunt, but nice games had to go in the Colts’ favor. Only five of those games would break in that manner.
The Colts took the field against the team with the worst record in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans, and you could see they were playing with nothing to lose. Pagano, who was reportedly being fired, was having a great time and that swept through the sidelines. There were more smiles on the sideline during that game than I had seen in a long time. They were having fun and when the Saints beat the Falcons to end playoff hopes for the Colts you saw them cut loose even more. At the final whistle the Colts were able to pull together a .500 season and it was a miracle that they were able to do so.
This 2015 Colts team will be remembered as never giving up even after their leader went down for the season. They found people’s backs to climb on and eek out a few wins that probably shouldn’t have happened. They will also be remembered for a terrible defense, for the most part, and an offense that never really got on track from game one to the final game of the season. This was the most roller coaster season I have been apart of in my life. There was so much to love and so SO SO much to hate, but I am proud of how they were able to pull together. The defense developed a pass rush towards the end of the season and it was just that very thing which helped the Colts land the win in Miami and Tennessee. Not many teams can pull out an 8-8 season using five different quarterbacks, but the Colts did. With so many starters being injured throughout the season and a lack of solid depth it’s a mystery how they aren’t picking in the top 5 in the next draft. That goes to show that they wouldn’t give up and they knew this was unacceptable, but there was only so much they could do.
With so much dysfunction between Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson being made public and then more and more reports flowing out that Grigson was more of a control freak than anyone really knew throughout the season it’s a wonder how this team was able to win at all and how Coach Pagano was able to get them ready for any games. It was a wonder that how he seemed to be so passionate on the field and in the locker room.
I’m really looking forward to this offseason. There could be a head coaching and general manager change as well. There will be new players brought in and some that are “older” that may call it a career after this season. There are going to be a lot of changes before free agency even starts this offseason. This team isn’t a complete loss where it has to be blown up and rebuilt. There are some really good starting points, but the moves this offseason are going to be the moves that put the Colts back in contention or drop them closer to the number one pick next season. The Colts will pick 18th (fitting huh?) in the upcoming April draft.
Thank you to the men and women of the Indianapolis Colts organization. Everyone’s efforts are greatly appreciated by the Colts Nation.
