Colts, Saints pursue perfection

Washington Post

INDIANAPOLIS — It is familiar territory for the Indianapolis Colts, this flirtation with an unbeaten season.

But it is entirely uncharted ground for the New Orleans Saints, who spent so much of their history as a beloved but bumbling team, and for the NFL, which is unaccustomed to having two teams still chasing 16-0 records so late in a season.

The Colts and Saints have become the first teams in league history to be 12-0 in the same season, raising the question of whether either — or both — can join the New England Patriots of two seasons ago, the only team to go undefeated in a 16-game regular season.

The down-the-line target, of course, would be the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who added three postseason victories to their 14-0 regular season.

It is becoming the talk even in opponents’ locker rooms. After Tennessee lost Sunday in Indianapolis, Titans linebacker David Thornton was asked in the visitor’s locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium if he thought the Colts would go undefeated.

“That’s tough to say,” Thornton said. “I don’t know how they’re gonna play their guys. They possibly could. But any team can be beaten.”

The issue is far more complex than merely whether a team has the on-field capabilities to win all of its games. It also is a matter of whether a team has the desire to try to win all of its regular season games, and that could become the issue with the Colts.

They’re three games ahead of the San Diego Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals, who have 9-3 records, in the race for the top seed in the AFC playoffs and home-field advantage through the conference title game.

It seems likely that the Colts will have some games at the end of the regular season that have no postseason implications, and Coach Jim Caldwell could sit down key players like quarterback Peyton Manning, wide receiver Reggie Wayne and defensive end Dwight Freeney to avoid injuries that might reduce the team’s chances of playoff success.

“If you don’t win that big game, it doesn’t mean anything,” Colts running back Joseph Addai said. “I think every kid’s dream was to try and get to the Super Bowl.

“Kids dream to play in the Super Bowl. That’s the biggest thing. We’re trying to get to that point. We do that by winning games. We need to keep on winning games but not try to go undefeated, if that makes sense.”

That was the mind-set of Caldwell’s predecessor, Tony Dungy, in past seasons. The Colts, under Dungy, were 13-0 in 2005, 9-0 in 2006 and 7-0 in 2007. Invariably, Dungy talked about chasing a Super Bowl title, something that the Colts got in the 2006 season, and not about chasing history. The refrain sounds much the same now from Caldwell, a Colts assistant since 2002 who took over when Dungy stepped aside after last season.

“Obviously they’re going to read about it and be asked about it,” Caldwell said Sunday. “The most important thing is to put yourself in the best position entering the playoffs to win it all.”

Manning has not missed a step after also losing his longtime favorite wide receiver, Marvin Harrison, in the offseason. He still has reliable and familiar targets in Wayne, tight end Dallas Clark and Addai, and young wide receivers Pierre Garcon (Mount Union) and Austin Collie have become significant contributors.