Colts lose! (Again.)

Late in the 4th quarter of the Colts-Steelers debacle - and that's really what it was, as the final score doesn't reflect Pittsburgh's total domination of the game - my wife turned to me and said, "The Colts aren't ever going to go to the Super Bowl, are they?" I shook my head and said, "No," for I had had the same thought earlier in the game.

It's a bit of a defeatist attitude, to be sure - if we don't believe they're ever going to make it to the Big Game, what, then, is the point of donning my Brandon Stokley jersey every Sunday? What's the point of me practically begging for Colts clothing every year around Christmastime? - but sometime next year, we'll start believing again. Still, yesterday's game was another case of same song, new verse.

I don't have a football background. My high school was too small to field a team, and I never really started enjoying the game until the last 10 years. A lot of the intricacies and vagaries of the game still escape me. So when someone asks me what the Colts should do in light of yet another playoff failure, I don't have much of an answer besides "punt."

I know what I know: Peyton Manning passed for about 3 million yards last year and they lost in the playoffs. This year, the Colts retooled a little bit, strengthening a historically lackluster defense and ran off 13 straight wins to start the season ... and they lost in the playoffs again. In other recent years, they've been good for anywhere from 10-13 wins ... and a loss in the playoffs.

Is it coaching? Is it the defense/offense/special teams? I don't know. There are plenty of people who know more than I do about the game that can give you a better answer.

Despite yesterday's heartbreak, I still enjoyed the ride this year. It would do one well to consider all of the teams who have been on the cusp of greatness, who ran up gaudy records in the regular season and were odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl, only to fail. The Vikings from about 6 or 7 years ago spring immediately to mind, as do the '95 Chiefs (when the Colts went into Arrowhead and pulled off what was then considered a mild upset). Those teams really didn't bounce back from those failures ... but I believe that these Colts, with this offense and this defense and this coach, can regroup (again) and take the next step next year.