Fair warning: I have no comfort for you today.
There is none to be had.
All I have is reason, and while reason keeps you sane, it won’t warm you up on a cold night, and there are plenty of cold nights coming.
Your Indianapolis Colts just lost another heart breaking playoff game. My Indianapolis Colts yet again found a way to turn victory into defeat.
Numbers and logic and rationality won’t make the frustration go away.
I woke up to a note from Scott Kacsmar, who contributes to profootballreference.com. It directed me to a message board where I saw some heart breaking stats:
The Colts are now 1-5 (.167) in the postseason in games where they have 0 turnovers.
Rest of the league: 41-3 (.932)
The Colts are now 8-4 (.667) in the posteason when leading after 3 quarters.
Rest of the league: 100-16 (.862)
Since 1998, there have been 31 comebacks in the 4th quarter in the playoffs. The Colts have allowed a league-high 5 of them, including 4 in each of the last 4 seasons.
Since the Jets had 169 yards on the ground tonight, that will give Indy 5 of the 7 worst games ranked by rushing yards allowed when they did not have a turnover.
That 1995 AFC-C in Pittsburgh with the Jim Harbaugh hail mary, that was another playoff loss where they had 0 turnovers, a 4th quarter lead, and lost 20-16.
Since 1970, the Colts have 7 playoff losses where they had 0 turnovers. The rest of the league has just 14 combined. The only other team with more than one is Cincinnati (2). Meanwhile, the Colts have the best regular season record in the NFL since 1998 when they don’t turn it over at 38-2 (.950).
That says it all doesn’t it? In each of the last four years, the Colts have blown a fourth quarter lead. You’d think that after all this time, I’d be used to it. Losing the same game over and over again. Heck, this is the second time in three years the Colts forced a fumble on the other team’s game winning drive only to have it bounce right back to the receiver.
Last night’s game perfectly encapsulated the 2010 season. The special teams and the pass defense failed in the final moments, and the team that won every close game in 2009 lost another one in 2010. Is it any solace that this team wasn’t really a threat to go deep into the playoffs?
No. Not even a little.
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