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The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American Football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana and are the reigning National Football League (NFL) champions since winning Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007. The Colts initially struggled on the playing field after relocating from Baltimore in 1984, winning 90 of 228 games through the 1997 season, including 5 playoff games. Since Jim Irsay assumed control of the franchise in 1998 after the death of his father Bob Irsay the team has become only the second in league history to win 12 games or more in four consecutive seasons and will achieve an all-time winning percentage since moving to Indy of at least 50% if they win 12 or more games in 2007. FRANCHISE HISTORY The AAFC Baltimore Colts There have been two NFL teams named the "Baltimore Colts". The first Colts team started in the All-America Football Conference in 1946 as the Miami Seahawks, and moved to Baltimore in 1947. In 1950, they joined the National Football League and finished the season with a record of 1-11. They folded after the 1950 season; however, supporting groups such as a Fan Club and the NFL's second Marching Band remained in operation and worked for the team's revival.1 In 1953, the NFL formed another Colts team out of the ashes of the failed Dallas Texans - this is the franchise that exists today in Indianapolis. The NFL Baltimore Colts In 1953, a Baltimore-based group led by Carroll Rosenbloom won the rights to a new Baltimore franchise. Rosenbloom was awarded the remains of the Dallas Texans . The Texans started as the Boston Yanks in 1944 before moving to New York as the Bulldogs in 1949 . The team then became the Yanks in 1950 , and many of the players from the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference were added to the team. The Yanks moved to Dallas after the 1951 season. However, the NFL considers the Texans and Colts to be separate teams. The Colts were the first NFL team to have Cheerleaders , and the old Colts' fan club and marching band (now under the name Baltimore's Marching Ravens) were adopted by the new franchise.2 The 1958 team, led by coach Weeb Ewbank and quarterback Johnny Unitas defeated the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium 23-17 in the NFL Championship Game . The game, the first-ever utilizing the overtime rule, is generally considered to be among the greatest contests in professional football history. The Colts repeated as NFL champions in 1959 , defeating the Giants again, 31-16. In the early 1960s, the Colts continued as an elite NFL team although they lost the NFL Championship Game in 1964 to the Cleveland Browns , 27-0. In 1968 , after a 13-1 season, the Colts gained a measure of revenge against the Browns, defeating them 34-0 in the NFL Championship Game . The 13-1 regular season and the trouncing of the Browns led NFL-based media to call the Colts "the greatest pro football team of all time". The Colts went into Super Bowl III (the first in the series to officially be called the ''Super Bowl'') against the American Football League 's New York Jets as 17-point favorites, with NFL icons like Pro Bowl ers Bobby Boyd (db), Mike Curtis (lb), John Mackey (te), Tom Matte (rb), Fred Miller (dl), Earl Morrall (qb), Willie Richardson (wr), and Bob Vogel (ol). The result of the game was surprising to many in the sports media as Joe Namath and Matt Snell led the American Football League champion Jets to a World Championship over the NFL's Colts, 16-7. The Jets were coached by Weeb Ewbank , the coach of the Colts' first two NFL titles. Prior to the 1970 season, Rosenbloom, Art Modell of the Browns, and Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to have their teams join the ten AFL teams in the AFC as part of the AFL-NFL merger. The 1970 Colts immediately went on a rampage, as new head coach Don McCafferty led the Colts to and 11-3 regular season record, winning he AFC East title. In the first round of the NFL Playoffs, they beat the Cincinnati Bengals 21-0; one week later in the AFC Championship, they beat the Oakland Raiders 27-17. Baltimore went on to win the first post-merger Super Bowl ( Super Bowl V ) defeating the NFC's Dallas Cowboys 16-13, on a Jim O'Brien field goal with 5 seconds left to play. In 1971 , the Colts made it back to the playoffs and defeated the Cleveland Browns in the first round, but lost to the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship on January 2 1972 21-0. On , 1982 , the Colts' offense did not cross mid-field in an entire game against the Bills ; this would not happen again in an NFL game until 2000 . The Colts finished 0-8-1 in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The disastrous 1982 season earned the team the right to select Stanford's John Elway , but Elway refused to play for Baltimore, and using leverage as a draftee of the New York Yankees baseball club, forced a trade to Denver. Relocation to Indianapolis By early 1984, after the Colts' lease on the dilapidated 64,124 seat http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/past/MemorialStadium.htm Stadiums of the NFL - Memorial Stadium Memorial Stadium had expired, Colts Owner Robert Irsay wanted the city of Baltimore to upgrade the stadium or build a new one. But with attendance dwindling and the team playing poorly, city officials were wary of such an investment and negotiations were slow and contentious. Relations between Owner Robert Irsay and the city of Baltimore deteriorated, and despite numerous public announcements that Irsay's ultimate desire was to remain in Baltimore, he nevertheless began discussions with several cities hungry for an NFL franchise, eventually narrowing the list of cities to two, Phoenix and Indianapolis. Descendants of the Mayflower - A History of the Indianapolis Colts Under the administrations of mayor Richard Lugar and then William Hudnut, the city was making an ambitious effort to reinvent itself into a `Great American City.' The Hoosier Dome (later renamed the RCA Dome) had been built specifically for and was ready to host an NFL expansion team. Meanwhile in Baltimore, the situation worsened. Eventually, the , where workers loaded all of the team's belongings and the trucks left for Indianapolis by 3:00 AM. Baltimore moves on The move triggered a flurry of legal activity that ended when representatives of Baltimore and the Colts organization reached a settlement on March 1986 in which all lawsuits regarding the relocation were dismissed, and the Colts would endorse a new NFL team for Baltimore. History of the Indianapolis Colts from indystar.com (Last Accessed June 10, 2006) Nonetheless, many of the prominent old-time Colts (many of whom had settled in the Baltimore area) were bitter and chose to cut all ties to the relocated Colts team. However, former Baltimore Colts DT Joe Ehrmann (1973-80), has remained close to the team. After football he became an ordained minister who speaks to several NFL teams a year. He is the co-founder of Baltimore's Ronald McDonald House and the founder of a Baltimore inner-city, community-based ministry called "The Door". In a bit of irony, Baltimore did eventually land another NFL franchise in a manner similar to Indianapolis. Several years later on November 6 , 1995 , Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to move Cleveland's team to Baltimore. The decision also triggered a flurry of legal activity. Modell originally intended to take the Browns name with him to Baltimore. However, many Cleveland fans, refused to give up the city's NFL franchise name. Finally, representatives of both cities and the NFL reached a settlement on February 9 , 1996 . It stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the franchise were to remain in Cleveland. Modell would be allowed to take his players and organization to Baltimore, but it would be technically regarded as an expansion team. The Colts ownership did not grant the city of Baltimore the rights to the Colts' name or colors. Therefore, the new Baltimore team was named the Ravens after a fan vote. The Colts' final game in Baltimore was played on December 18 , 1983 against the then Houston Oilers . The Colts would not return to Baltimore until 1998 . Ironically, the new Baltimore team had a chance to stop the Indianapolis Colts on their way to the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance since moving. However, the Colts defeated the Baltimore Ravens 15-6 in the division playoff round on their way to winning Super Bowl XLI. Early struggles in Indy The newly minted Indianapolis Colts continued to struggle on the field, with 4-12, 5-11 and 3-13 records during the first three seasons. The latter, during the 1986 season, began 0-13, with the team in contention to be the second modern-day team to go winless for an entire season (the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14) when they dismissed Rod Dowhower and replaced him with former Patriots head coach Ron Meyer . The Colts responded by winning the final three games under his watch. 1987 saw the Colts make the playoffs for the first time in a decade, winning the AFC East with a 9-6 record bolstered by the mid-season arrival of Pro Bowl running back Eric Dickerson . The next few seasons saw Indianapolis wallow in mediocrity before collapsing to a 1-15 in 1991, that team scored the fewest points ever (143) of any NFL team since going to the standard 16-game schedule in 1978. The Colts did not return to the playoffs until the 1995 season, with Jim Harbaugh at quarterback and Marshall Faulk at running back, clinching a wild card berth with a 9-7 record. They advanced to the AFC Championship Game before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium . Although they won nine games again the following year, and secured another wild card berth, a dismal 3-13 season soon followed in 1997, which earned them the first pick in the upcoming Draft and marked a crucial turning point for the franchise. The beginning of the Peyton Manning era Jim Irsay began to shape the Colts one year after assuming control from his father by firing Coach Lindy Infante and hiring Bill Polian to run the organization. Polian in turn hired Jim E. Mora to coach the team and drafted University Of Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Peyton Manning , the son of New Orleans Saints legend Archie Manning , with the first pick in the 1998 NFL Draft . After recording a 3-13 record in 1998, the team drafted Edgerrin James with the 4th pick in the draft. The Colts finished 13-3 in 1999, but were eliminated in the divisional round by the Tennessee Titans . The following year, they were defeated in overtime in a wild-card playoff game against the Miami Dolphins in Miami, when a potential 49-yard game-winning field goal attempt by Mike Vanderjagt sailed to the right of the goalposts. James tore his ACL in the sixth game of the 2001 season, and while backup Dominic Rhodes proved a capable starter in becoming the first undrafted rookie to rush for over 1,000 yards, the loss of James and a defense that gave up the most points in a season of any NFL team since 1981 proved too much to overcome; the Colts would finish 6-10 in and missed the playoffs. Mora was fired after the season, reportedly due to a disagreement with general manager Bill Polian over defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. {Link without Title} The firing led to the hiring of head coach Tony Dungy , the former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , who had led his former team to four playoff appearances in the previous six years. Dungy led the Colts to the playoffs in his first season with the Colts, but a blowout (41-0) playoff loss to the New York Jets ended the season. In the 2003 NFL Season , Manning was named co-Most Valuable Player with Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair . The Colts won the AFC South division title over the Titans via the head to head tiebreaker (both teams finished with 12-4 records). The Colts defeated the Denver Broncos in the wild-card playoff (41-10), and advanced to play the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional playoffs, winning 38-31. In the AFC Championship game they were defeated 24-14 by the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots , with Manning throwing four interceptions in a game widely criticized for its minimal officiating (only seven penalties were called during the entire game, six of them were pre-snap fouls). Criticism of the game's officiating largely led to a reinterpretation of the "bump rule" beginning in the 2004 season. Commonly referred to as the "Colts Rule" or the "Pollard Rule" (for a non-call on the Patriots' Roman Phifer against Colts' TE Marcus Pollard on the Colts' final offensive drive), the change led to a large increase of defensive pass interference calls the following season. 2005 season The Colts became the 4th team in league history to win their first 13 games, but the season ended with an opening playoff game loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Manning and Marvin Harrison broke Steve Young and Jerry Rice 's NFL record for most touchdowns by a quarterback-receiver tandem, notching their 86th in a Monday Night home game against St. Louis Rams in week 6. Two weeks later Peyton Manning logged his first victory at New England against the Patriots , ending a six game New England win streak. After defeating Jacksonville in week 14 they became only the fourth team in NFL history to reach a record of 13-0 and clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The dream of a perfect record for the Colts ended the next week however as the San Diego Chargers defeated the Colts 26-17. In week 16, the Colts played without coach Tony Dungy following the suicide of his son James earlier in the week. With the team resting most of their key players, the Colts lost their second straight to the eventual NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks . Dungy returned to the sidelines for the last regular season game as the Colts beat the Arizona Cardinals 17-13 while resting most of the team's usual starters. The team's final record of 14-2 marked the best 16-game season in the franchise's history. On January 15 , 2006 , the Colts were eliminated in the divisional round by the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers , 21-18. Trailing 21-10 late in the game, the Colts regained possession and put 8 points on the board to make it 21-18. After a Pittsburgh fumble on the goal line the Colts drove down the field, only to have Mike Vanderjagt miss a 46 yard field goal attempt wide right. 2006 season After becoming the first team in NFL history to begin two consecutive seasons by winning nine games, the Colts proceeded to lose three of the next four, largely due to the league's worst run defense. However, they still captured their fourth consecutive AFC South title by defeating the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football in Week 15 of the season with, ironically, a strong showing from their defense. The Colts finished the season with a 12-4 record, giving them the number three seed in the playoffs. The record also marked their Fifth Consecutive Season with ten victories or more. In week 13 against the Titans , the quarterback-wide receiver combination of Manning to Harrison became the all time leader in touchdowns in NFL History.3 In the Colts' first-round playoff game, they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 23-8, despite three Manning interceptions. The Colts defense dominated the Chiefs, holding them to 44 yards on the ground (RB Larry Johnson had 32) and Chiefs' quarterback Trent Green to 2 yards passing in the first half. The Chiefs did not earn a first down until 3:33 remained in the third quarter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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