More Colts Talk

Jim Caldwell was introduced as the new Colts coach yesterday and I’m optimistic that he’s the right man for the job. Whether it’s fair or not, he is being labeled as a Tony Dungy clone (soft spoken…man of faith…a professional) and while I think that is just a convenient way of looking at….the bottom line is…what’s wrong with that? If Caldwell continues the culture of winning that Dungy established than I’m fine with that. Yes the one and done playoff failures are unsatisfying but Dungy established a winning tradition that Indianapolis desperately needed. We needed a culture of success and Dungy brought that. If Caldwell continues that—and along the way wins a Super Bowl—I’ll be fine with that.

I mentioned this a couple of posts ago…the unfortunate phenomenon of the one and done Colts playoff failures. I was having a hard time digesting it but this past weekend (three of the four home-field teams losing) is proving one thing—as parity increases in the NFL…the success of predictability of who is going to win decreases. Basically the NFL playoffs are becoming a crapshoot where one can throw home-field advantage and a team’s record out the window. A wild card team has one the Super Bowl the past three years. Also in the past three years, half of the teams (2 out of 4) with home field advantage have lost their first playoff game (which is at home). This year it was three.

I’m not bringing this up as an excuse for why the Colts have had their share of one and done postseason missteps but it does—in some way—make it easier to look at the playoffs as a big crapshoot where anyone can win. The modern day NFL (with salary caps and unbalanced scheduling) favors turn over among teams so in that regard it’s pretty amazing how consistent the Colts have been. It would have been nice if that translated to more post season success but it is what it is.