The Indianapolis Colts are blessed to have a couple of rings in their drawer, although the two Super Bowl–era championships occurred 36 years apart, to fans' both collective dismay and pride.
Besides the championship runs, which moments stand out as the greatest in Colts franchise history?
5. Young Peyton Manning's first playoff win
After selecting Tennessee Peyton Manning with the first overall pick in 1998, the Colts were challenged and bombarded with questions of Manning's ability to take the AFC franchise to the promised land for several years.
In his sophomore campaign, Manning and the Colts lost at home against the Tennessee Titans in the divisional round of the playoffs by a three-point margin. The very next year, Indianapolis lost by six to the Miami Dolphins in the first round of the postseason. Two years after that, they were blanked by the New York Jets in the AFC Wild Card Game.
Manning, a future five-time NFL MVP, would finally hurdle over his career milestone in the form of a postseason win during the 2003 season, when the Colts, after winning the division, defeated the visiting Denver Broncos in the wild card round by 31 points. The Colts won their next playoff game before succumbing to the eventual Super Bowl champion and soon-to-be nemesis New England Patriots in the conference title game.
4. 1995 Colts' remarkable run
Another great moment in Colts franchise history came before Manning's time, when veteran gunslinger and future NFL and NCAA head coach Jim Harbaugh led Indianapolis to a 9-7 regular season finish in his lone Pro Bowl selection and AFC Championship Game appearance.
Harbaugh went 7-5 in 12 regular-season starts that season, including a Week 17 home win against the Patriots, 10-7, to send the Colts to the postseason. In the playoffs, the Colts shocked the world by taking down the AFC's No. 1 seed, the Kansas City Chiefs, by the same score as their Week 17 win one week after beating the San Diego Chargers in the wild card round.
Indy's miraculous run fell short in the conference championship, losing by four points to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
3. 2009-10 postseason run
The Colts were in a very different position than Harbaugh and the franchise 14 years prior; this time, Indianapolis entered the 2010 playoffs winning the division along with the possessing the best record in the league at 14-2. Manning won his fourth MVP award that season.
Indianapolis handily defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round before taking care of business against the Jets. In Super Bowl XLIV, the Colts, who led the New Orleans Saints going into the fourth quarter, were stunned by a fantastic final-period performance by Drew Brees, who earned the game's MVP distinction.
It was a tough loss for the Colts, who definitely had their best regular season that year.
2. Super Bowl V
The second-greatest moment in Colts history was one of their first: the franchise's first title in the Super Bowl era.
After losing Super Bowl III to the upstart Jets, the Colts failed to reach the postseason the following season and watched the Kansas City Chiefs beat the NFL's Minnesota Vikings for the title.
In the first year of the merger official, with Don McCafferty coaching as the successor to Don Shula, the then-Baltimore Colts rolled to a 11-2-1 record, taking down the Cincinnati Bengals and Oakland Raiders to set up a showdown with the Cowboys.
The Colts, who trailed 13-6 at halftime, saw star quarterback Johnny Unitas go down with a rib injury. Backup Earl Morrall had to fill in—and the Colts scored 10 unanswered points (all in the fourth quarter) to win Super Bowl V, marking their first title in the post-merger era.
1. Super Bowl XLI
36 years would be the duration between Super Bowl appearances for the Colts, who had in that time relocated to Indianapolis.
The 2006 NFL season saw Manning and the Colts go 12-4 before landing in the wild card round, defeating the Chiefs by 15 points. Then, the Colts beat the Ravens in a low-scoring affair. The Colts finally hurdled over the Patriots in a game to remember: the 2007 AFC title game. Indy came back down 21-6 at halftime, with Joseph Addai scoring a goal line rush with one minute left to give the Colts their first lead of the game, enough to hold on and win.
In Super Bowl XLI, the Colts met the NFC's Chicago Bears in Miami. It was mostly a tight game. The Colts scored the only fourth-quarter points (a pick-six) to give the franchise some breathing room—and their first title in multiple generations.
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