Colts missed their chance at greatness

Quickly: name the last five Super Bowl winners.

Pittsburgh was last year, of course, preceded by the New York Giants shocking the Patriots. Before that, the Colts over the Bears. Before that … was that New England? Or Pittsburgh over the Seahawks? They all sort of run together. I know the Rams got a few of them, and the Packers certainly won in 1997 and lost to the Broncos in 1998.

Now name the winner of the Super Bowl following the 1972 season. That’s easy. The Miami Dolphins.

It’s an answer the majority of sports fans should know, because the 1972 Dolphins remain the only NFL team to complete a perfect season. The Patriots came precariously close two years ago before falling in the Super Bowl, and I think New England may have ruined it for everyone by not following through.

The Indianapolis Colts are favored to win a second championship in the past five years when they challenge the New Orleans Saints next weekend in Super Bowl XLIV. I’m hoping for a good game, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the familiar Super Bowl celebration, one of friends, Doritos, frothy beverages and hopefully an excellent football game.

But without much of a local angle, it won’t leave much of a lasting impact on me. It’s too bad – because this could have been a game that put Peyton Manning and the Colts on the verge of absolute greatness, instead of just another title that will fade from memory in less than a decade.

You think I’m crazy, don’t you, using the phrase “another title” like it’s some meaningless benchmark along the way. But hear me out.

After wins in 14 straight games, Indianapolis essentially laid down in its final two games, resting its starters as the New York Jets rallied for a victory Dec. 27, then allowing the Buffalo Bills to walk all over them in a 30-7 regular-season finale. It wasn’t the same team that rattled off 14 straight victories and put itself in a luxurious position where losing in the final two games carried no consequences in the postseason picture.

Onlookers will say it’s a good decision – the rested Colts churned out fairly convincing wins over Baltimore and the Jets to reach the Super Bowl, and the ultimate goal is to hoist that Lombardi trophy, right? Nobody wants to be the Patriots, who went for the full undefeated glory and didn’t get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, right?

I feel differently. Looking at pro sports on a holistic level, I wonder about the ultimate aim of participants. Sure, it’s to win a championship – but doesn’t being remembered play into that? The 1972 Dolphins will be remembered by even passive football fans, because they’re the only ones to cash in on the rare opportunity that pro football affords – the actual possibility of finishing without a loss.

As sports fans, we gravitate toward greatness, and we want to bear witness to it as it unfolds. Every year, somebody wins the Super Bowl – but only once in history has a team gone undefeated. The Colts put themselves in position to be more than just another team, but they passed on it, because the risk of injury jeopardizing a run toward the title was more important that sheer greatness.

There will be many who disagree with me, saying that teams have a responsibility to their fan bases to make a championship the one and only goal. They’ll say “greatness” can be perceived as a selfish, superfluous aim, especially after one team seemingly went for it and lost (never mind that the Patriots lost thanks to some ridiculous heroics by Eli Manning, David Tyree, Plaxico Burress and others).

As a fan of sports, that’s disappointing. I wasn’t there when I saw the Dolphins taste perfection, and I have a feeling I’ll never see it in my lifetime. It’s just not something teams in the NFL want.