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Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian
(Michael Conroy/AP Photo)
Bill Polian said often over the past several weeks an unbeaten regular season was not a goal for the Indianapolis Colts.
On Monday, he reiterated that stance. Often.
Polian, in his 12th season as the Colts' president, spent much of his weekly radio show Monday night discussing the team's decision on Sunday to remove QB Peyton Manning and several key offensive starters while leading the New York Jets by five points late in the third quarter.
The move became a major NFL story when the Jets scored the game's final 19 points and gave Indianapolis a 29-15 loss – its first of the season a week after they became the third team in NFL history to start a season 14-0.
The decision drew criticism not only from media, but from fans, who first booed the move throughout the fourth quarter Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, then voiced their opinion on the Web and in the blogosphere throughout the next 24 hours.
On his weekly radio show, Polian first discussed the team's philosophy, and the fact that the Colts not only won an NFL record 23 consecutive regular-season games this season and last, but secured homefield advantage throughout the playoffs this season and won more games – 115 – this decade than any NFL team had won in any decade. Ever.
Those, Polian said, were the milestones about which the Colts cared.
A 16-0 record, he said, never fell into that category.
“Apparently . . . our point of view on the subject hasn't come across,” Polian said on his weekly radio show on Hank 97.1 FM in Indianapolis. “Sixteen wins in a season was not our issue. It was someone else's. Right around Thanksgiving time other people began to raise the issue of, 'Would we sacrifice everything – including health – to go for 16 straight if that were doable?'
“At that point in time, we said loudly and clearly – myself, (Colts Head) Coach (Jim) Caldwell, even the players – that that was not our goal and that our goals were as follows: No. 1, to win the division, so we would get a home game in the playoffs and not have to travel as we did last year when we were a 12-4 team and because the rules require it we had to travel to San Diego to play out there on the road – we did that. Our second goal was to do something that is rarely done in the National Football League and that was to secure home-field advantage throughout (the postseason). We did that with our 13th win (against Denver two weeks ago). At that point in time, we began to focus on goals that might be reached in terms of history.”
Polian said the two that stood out were breaking New England's record of 21 consecutive regular-season victories from 2006-2008. The second was securing the record for most victories in a decade.
“Those were two historical records that were important to us,” Polian said. “So, we've achieved all of those goals. We've won the division after having not won it last year with a 12-4 record. There's no need to talk about this being our 11th playoff season. Everyone knows that. It's exceedingly important, but everyone knows that and everyone now takes it for granted, which they shouldn't, but they do. We have earned the home-field advantage, something every team in the National Football League shoots for every year and rarely achieves. This will be the second time we have done that in 10 years. It's rarely done.
“We will have achieved a record of 23 straight regular-season wins, which never has been done before, and which was very important to us. As it approached, it became an issue that was very important to us because you do write your name in the history books and it will take a heck of a good team to beat that. Finally, we achieved the most wins in a decade. That's an enviable record by any standard. We've written our name in the history books. Some may see that as inconsequential. We don't.”
Polian called 16-0 “inconsequential.”
“It's something that no professional football person ever believes is a realistic goal, A,” Polian said, “and B, it already has been done before – once by the Miami Dolphins in winning the Super Bowl (in 1972) and once by the New England Patriots and they lost the Super Bowl (following the 2007 season). As a result, it has been forgotten. So, we never focused on that.
“We said when the issue arose when the question was asked by others around Thanksgiving – when it was totally inappropriate to be asked, but it was asked nevertheless and people have a right to ask it – 'Would we play everybody if everything was clinched in order to go 16-0?' Coach Caldwell and myself repeated over and over and over again, that, no, 16-0 was not our goal. It was not something we felt was important.”
Polian also specified that 16-0 was “not something that we felt we owed anyone, our fans included.”
“We felt that the best way we could reward the tremendous support we've had from our fans – and reward our players for a magnificent season and some magnificent milestones (was) to give ourselves the best chance to be healthy in the playoffs," he said ."Now, who knows how far we'll go? Everyone of the four teams that will be left when we play are flawed. We're flawed, so will be the three others. People will have injuries.
“Who knows how it will come out, but we've earned the right to be one of those four teams in the AFC. Our feeling was and is that we need to do everything we can to be in the best shape we can when that time comes.”
Polian on Monday also was asked on his radio show about:
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