What is perfection? What does it mean to be perfect? Not since the Miami Dolphins of 1972 has a professional football team gone through a season without losing a game. The New England Patriots came the closest in 2007, only to have their dreams of perfection ended on a game-winning drive by the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
This year, the Indianapolis Colts looked to be the next team with a chance for perfection, achieving a 14-0 record with two very winnable games before the playoffs. However, that chance came to a crashing halt on Sunday to an inferior New York Jets team, a game that is leaving analysts scratching their heads and sparking controversy across the country.
Jim Caldwell, first year coach of the Colts, made the decision to rest his starters in the third quarter after attaining a 15-10 lead. The Colts had been outplaying their opponent, and they were clearly on their way to victory number 15.
After the starters were pulled, the backup quarterback, a rookie, proceeded to fumble and have it recovered in the end zone giving the Jets the lead, and they never looked back en route to a 29-15 score.
Peyton Manning and company were left as spectators on the sidelines and watched their chance for immortality go the way of the Dodo.
Perfection was gone.
In the past few days, the Colts reaction to this controversy is simple; it is more important to win the super bowl than to be 16-0. With this statement, they are correct, but why couldn’t they have done both? They were in control of the game against the Jets, and many feel they would have won with Peyton and company in the game. At the point when they were taken out, the score was 15-10.
Why not let Peyton put the game away and secure the victory, when one more touchdown would have most likely been sufficient?
The problem I have with the Colts decision is not so much in they wanted to protect their players, but they gave away the game to the Jets. They flat out gave the Jets the game, and that is not right.
It is one thing to lose your perfect season because another team beats you, as the Colts have felt in the past, but it is quite another to just give away your perfect season.
I’m sure Mercury Morris and the rest of the Dolphins are popping their champagne right now, but I wonder how they feel about the mindset of the Colts, basically saying they can have their perfect season, because in the words of former Colts boss Jim Mora, the perfect season means “diddley poo.”
With a chance for perfection, the Colts took a pass. The Colts have been the winningest franchise this decade in the regular season, yet have stumbled multiple times in the playoffs, with only one Lombardi trophy to show for it. Their lack of desire to be perfect might reflect their overall lack of desire to be the best, and to be the team in the playoffs that wants it the most.
In the playoffs, where teams are fairly evenly matched, it can boil down to what team wants it more; what team is willing to put it all on the line for victory.
In the end, there are teams that strive to be .500, teams that strive to just get into the playoffs, teams that strive to win their division, teams that strive to win their conference, and teams that strive to win the Super Bowl.
However, there are also those that want more, to be the best of the best, to be perfect. On Sunday, we learned that the Colts are not one of those teams. A Super Bowl trophy shows that you were the best team in the league that year and you have reached the pinnacle of the sport, but the Colts gave away the chance for something so much more, the chance to be perfect.
- J Man
