Can the Colts Muster One Win?

Manning with winless backup
QB Curtis Painter

Peyton Manning still wants to play football in 2011 if his health permits. Considering his painstakingly sluggish recovery thus far from recent neck surgeries, this is a mammoth "if" (so huge an "if" that there are no font styles large and bold enough to capture it in writing). Peyton's return may be the only thing that stands between the Indianapolis Colts and a depressing 0-16 season. For the Colts to win one game, it will likely require either the return of Peyton, or the reappearance of the entire Colts' defense, which may also be suffering pains in the neck - caused by the rapid turning of their heads as opponents race past them to the end zone.

With a 0-8 start, the first eight games break down this way.

• Five old-fashioned straightforward beatings (Houston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Tennessee)
• Two late collapses (blowing a 17 point lead against Kansas City and squandering multiple 4th quarter opportunities in Cincinnati)
• One utter embarrassment (the 62-7 rout in the Superdome, which now stands as the worst defeat for any of "my teams" in any sport in my 40 years of sports fandom).

As for the second half of the season, November games against Carolina and Atlanta are not likely victories for Indy, and the first two weeks of December look bleak, even if Peyton gets in the game, as the Colts travel first to New England and then to Baltimore.

There are still a couple possibilities for victory in the remaining eight games though, especially if Peyton can return to the field in December as he and the rest of us are wishing (hope isn't a strong enough word). The Colts will face Jacksonville twice, and they will have revenge opportunities at Tennessee and Houston, in the last half of the season. Being an eternal optimist, I believe it will be one, and maybe even two, of these divisional games that might just keep the Colts from sharing the dubious distinction of "worst NFL season ever."

On the ridiculously bright side of things, the only other team to go winless in the NFL since the 16-game season was introduced was the 2008 Detroit Lions, and Lions fans don't have too much to bitch about this year. So there's that, and there's always hope for better luck next year, Andrew Luck that is.