SB XLIV Column

Simmons rejoices in the Colts' collapse (and, secondarily, rejoices in the Saints victory) in the latest Sports Guy column. 

One quick observation:  What's all this whining by Colts fans?  One guy said he would curse the name of the team owner for sitting the players for the final two regular season games.  Others were chastising Manning for an epic choke-job which in their revisionist history minds fits in with a pattern of incompetence during big games.  

Here's the facts:  

-your team had a great season.

-they had a decent chance to win the Super Bowl--the Saints played great, nearly error-free football, and the Colts likewise played decently I felt. It wasn't like games in recent past where you had the sneaking suspicion that these weren't the two best teams that had made it in due to all the mental mistakes.  

-Peyton Manning stats were pretty good, and apart from "the INT" I think he played a pretty good game.

-the final pass Peyton Manning made to Reggie Wayne on the replay looked very catchable, would have been a TD, and would at the very least provided the possibility for epic drama in the final minute of Super Bowl XLIV. Why aren't more people talking about this? 

-going into next season, the Colts still have to be considered one of the top teams in the league.

-the Colts organization has managed to field a consistently good team over the past several years, appears very competent with the draft in terms of building for the future, and 90% of league fans would kill to have their organization run as competently as the Colts.  

So what's the point of complaining?  I think once your team wins the Super Bowl in recent years (like the Colts did in '07) and you are the favorites (much like the 'Pats during their 19-0 season), the fans unrightfully expect nothing less than a Super Bowl, and get pissed off with their team when it doesn't happen. I agree with the SG in terms of implementing a 10-year ban (can't remember the exact duration, but you get the point) on complaining about your team after it wins a championship.