It looked like the Colts would make it after all.
After turning their backs on a clear chance at history when they gave up the last two games of the season (after starting the year 14-0), the Colts had breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs, dispatching the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets with little trouble. And then, after they led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, after Peyton Manning had shredded the Saints’ defense with a combination of Joseph Addai runs and pinpoint passes, it looked like it would be a coronation of the Colts and their legendary quarterback with the Super Bowl title that they said they could only win if they didn’t go undefeated.
But then karma, at long last, came back around. And for all of his powers, even Peyton Manning couldn’t overcome the karma that his head coach, Jim Caldwell, and his general manager, Bill Polian, placed on the team several weeks ago.
It’d be easy to say that the two things aren’t connected, the way the Colts lost their undefeated season in the season’s second-to-last week. They lost a game at home, against a team (the Jets) that most people would say with near certainty that they would beat if Caldwell and Polian hadn’t forced Manning and other starters halfway through the third quarter with a lead. The look on Manning’s face throughout the rest of that game, as he stood next to Caldwell on the sideline with his helmet on, visibly angry at the decision, was all anyone would need to see.
He didn’t agree with the decision.
But, in the end, that didn’t save Manning from the karmic rebound the Colts surely suffered from yesterday. Think about all of the different things that happened in last night’s game that didn’t go the Colts’ way.
- After something good happens (stop the Saints on the one-yard-line on fourth down), the Colts run the ball twice to set up third-and-1 at the Colts’ 10-yard-line. If the Colts get a first down, they end the half up 10-3. They don’t, and the Saints end up kicking a field goal and go into halftime down 10-6.
- The Saints attempt an onside kick at the start of the second half that goes straight at Colts backup wide receiver Hank Baskett. If Baskett catches the ball, the Colts have the ball at the Saints’ 45-yard-line, and are in prime position to drive down the field and get at least three points, if not a touchdown. Instead, the ball bounces off of Baskett’s helmet, and the Saints recover.
- Early in the game, Drew Brees had several passes bounce off of the hands of Colts defenders. If any one of those passes is picked off, with the Colts already in control of the game, Manning could have quickly put the game out of reach. But they never got one of those interceptions, and the Saints were able to hang on.
At each of these points, the Colts had opportunities to put the game out of reach. At each of those points, they failed to do so. Some of that, without question, was because of things the Saints did. But it’s hard not to think back to that enduring image of the Jets game in Indianapolis Week 16, with Manning standing next to his rookie head coach, someone whose voice no one outside of Indianapolis could recognize, glaring out at the disaster unfolding in front of him.
Maybe, deep down, Peyton Manning knew then what the higher-ups in his organization were doing. He would never admit it, but maybe Peyton Manning had a feeling this would happen all along.
Either way, the facts are there for all to see. The Colts had their chances in last night’s Super Bowl. They had their opportunities to prove that they made the right decision, that they didn’t need to worry about karma because they wouldn’t do anything different if they had the chance to do it over again. But the Colts squandered those chances, and wasted those opportunities. And their opponents, the Saints, took advantage of every break that came their way, and sprung one of the bigger upsets in recent history.
Once again, karma proved to be bigger than any individual, bigger than any team. Peyton Manning may be the greatest quarterback in the game today. He may be able to read any defense, make any throw, find any opening to put the ball into. But even he, the great Peyton Manning, couldn’t overcome karma. And, for that, the city of New Orleans is greatful.
