I'm with you, John. As I watched that game unfold I felt a sense of loss and disappointment. I can't imagine how you and any other die hard Colts fan felt. To lose a chance at immortality by losing fair and square is one thing. To give it away without making any effort is another. If the Colts end up going 18-1 and winning the Super Bowl then we'll spend the rest of our lives wondering.
Yeah, I've heard all the arguments about resting for the playoffs and keeping your eye on the ultimate prize, blah blah blah. But, from what I've seen, the teams that go into the playoffs well rested tend to lose their edge compared to the ones that have to put everything on the line just to get there. The Colts of '06 and the Giants of '07 are two prime examples. Plenty of examples in other sports, too.
The way I see it, in any regular season game in any sport the best players (unless ill or injured) should be on the field giving every effort to win. They want to be there, they get payed good money to be there, and the fans that ultimately pay the bills deserve to see their best effort.
In my lifetime of putting my heart and soul into the Cubs, the Bears, and Illinois the only one to win a championship was the '85 Bears. I'm not talking about division titles and Big Ten crowns. I'm talking about winning THE champioship. Now that Bears team only lost one game. They were 12-0 and then lost to Miami by two touchdowns. They played their starters and got beat. I can live with that. But if they had gone 14-0, sat their starters to "rest", and lost, that would be a different story. We Bears fans would always wonder what could have been.
Sorry to hijack this thread, John, but since I'm on a roll, I've got a little story about those '85 Bears. Many of you remember that great defense. Do you remember that they won their first two playoff games 21-0 and 24-0? That's right, going into the Super Bowl they had a chance to become the only team in the Super Bowl era to shut out every opponent in the playoffs. But it wasn't meant to be. On the Bears first series, the great Walter Payton fumbled, the Patriots recovered on the Bears 20, and ended up kicking a field goal. It wasn't the defense's fault, but there went the shutout. The Bears went on to completly dominate the game, winning 46-10. The Patriots touchdown was scored late in the game with most of the starters on the bench, already celebrating a victory. But I'll always wonder. WHAT IF Walter hadn't fumbled? WHAT IF they had gone into the fourth quarter with a chance to do something no one had ever done and likely never will? Would they have gone for it? We'll never know, but I'd like to think so.
Yes, I know it's a different scenario than what the Colts faced last week. Those Bears had already won the Super Bowl. They had nothing to lose. But I still say if you have a chance to do something no one has ever done, and you have a chance to be remembered forever, you've GOT to give it your best shot.
If for no other reason, do it for those of us that are sick and tired of hearing about the '72 Dolphins. Now we have to endure another year of listening to Mercury Morris run his mouth and another year of watching those guys pop open the champagne and celebrate when the last undefeated team goes down.
