Indianapolis Colts

The franchise's origins are tangled. A Baltimore Colts team existed briefly in the All-America Football Conference and the NFL from 1947 to 1950 before folding. In 1953, the NFL relocated the financially troubled Dallas Texans franchise to Baltimore, creating the modern Colts. The city embraced professional football with a fervor that surprised the league — Baltimore was a lunch-pail town that treated its Colts like family.

The arrival of Johnny Unitas in 1956 — a Pittsburgh kid cut by his hometown Steelers who arrived via a tryout — changed everything. Unitas revolutionized the quarterback position with his daring play-calling, his willingness to throw downfield, and his preternatural calm in the pocket. On December 28, 1958, Unitas led the Colts to a 23-17 overtime victory over the New York Giants in what became known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played" — the first sudden-death overtime championship in NFL history. That game, broadcast nationally on NBC, is widely credited with launching professional football into the mainstream of American culture.

The Colts won a second consecutive championship in 1959, cementing Unitas and coach Weeb Ewbank's place in football history. With receivers Raymond Berry and Lenny Moore, the Colts were the most exciting team in football and the standard against which all others were measured.

Don Shula took over as head coach in 1963 and immediately made the Colts one of the NFL's elite teams. The 1968 Colts went 13-1, the best record in the league, and were heavy favorites in Super Bowl III against the AFL's New York Jets. What followed was the most famous upset in football history: Joe Namath guaranteed a Jets victory and delivered, 16-7, in a game that validated the AFL and humiliated Baltimore.

The sting of that loss lingered until 1970, when the Colts — now coached by Don McCafferty after Shula departed for Miami — won Super Bowl V over the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, in a sloppy but satisfying game. It was the franchise's first championship of the Super Bowl era, and it provided a measure of redemption for the Super Bowl III debacle.

The post-Unitas years were defined by gradual decline. Bert Jones provided a spark at quarterback in the mid-1970s, leading the Colts to three consecutive AFC East titles from 1975 to 1977. But the franchise's relationship with Baltimore was fraying. Owner Robert Irsay, who acquired the team in 1972 through a bizarre swap with the Los Angeles Rams' owner, was increasingly at odds with the city over stadium issues. The Colts' final years in Baltimore were marked by losing seasons and a fan base that sensed the inevitable.

On the night of March 28, 1984, Mayflower moving trucks loaded the Colts' belongings in the middle of a snowstorm and drove from Baltimore to Indianapolis. It remains one of the most infamous moments in professional sports history — a franchise literally stolen in the dead of night. Baltimore would not have an NFL team again until the Ravens arrived in 1996.

Indianapolis greeted the Colts with open arms and a new home in the Hoosier Dome. But the on-field product was often bleak. The mid-1980s were a wasteland of losing seasons, though the 1987 team made a surprise playoff run. The Colts drafted Jeff George first overall in 1990, hoping he would be the franchise quarterback, but George's immense arm talent was undermined by inconsistency and clashes with coaching staffs.

The bright spots were few: Eric Dickerson's arrival via trade in 1987 brought a future Hall of Fame running back, and Marshall Faulk, drafted second overall in 1994, was electrifying. But the franchise cycled through coaches and quarterbacks without finding a sustainable winning formula. By the mid-1990s, the Colts were once again among the NFL's worst teams — a 3-13 record in 1997 set the stage for the most important draft pick in franchise history.

The Colts selected Peyton Manning first overall in the 1998 NFL Draft, and nothing about the franchise would ever be the same. Manning went 3-13 as a rookie, but by his second season, the Colts won 13 games and Manning had established himself as the most cerebral quarterback in NFL history. His pre-snap reads, his command of the offense, and his relentless preparation set a new standard for the position.

Under head coach Tony Dungy, hired in 2002, the Colts became one of the most consistent winners in football. From 2003 to 2009, Indianapolis won at least 12 games every season — a run of sustained excellence matched by only a handful of teams in NFL history. The crown jewel was Super Bowl XLI following the 2006 season, when Manning led the Colts to a 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears in the rain at Dolphin Stadium. Manning was named Super Bowl MVP, and Indianapolis — a city that had once been mocked as too small for the NFL — celebrated its first championship.

The 2009 season brought the Colts to within a game of a second Manning Super Bowl, but they fell to the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV. Manning's final years in Indianapolis were marred by a neck injury that cost him the entire 2011 season — during which the Colts went 2-14, earning the first overall pick that would bring Andrew Luck. Manning was released in March 2012, ending a 14-year run that transformed both the franchise and the city of Indianapolis.

Andrew Luck was supposed to be the next Peyton Manning — a generational quarterback prospect who would keep the Colts among the NFL's elite for the next decade. Drafted first overall in 2012, Luck delivered immediately, leading the Colts to three consecutive 11-win seasons and an AFC Championship Game appearance following the 2014 season.

But the Colts failed to build an adequate supporting cast around Luck, particularly on the offensive line. Luck was hit constantly, absorbing punishment that took a cumulative toll on his body. A lacerated kidney in 2015, a torn labrum that cost him the entire 2017 season, and a persistent calf/ankle injury in 2019 gradually eroded his health and, eventually, his desire to play.

On August 24, 2019 — two weeks before the regular season — Andrew Luck announced his retirement at age 29. The news was stunning, devastating, and — to those who had watched him absorb hit after hit behind porous offensive lines — heartbreakingly understandable. Luck walked away from tens of millions of dollars because the cycle of injury and rehabilitation had become unsustainable. It was one of the most shocking moments in NFL history, and it left the Colts scrambling for a new identity.