History Illuminated

I certainly hope that Colts coach Jim Caldwell is a student of history.

Not ancient history either, just recent history. As in the Oakland Raiders of the early 2000's. If he looks closely, he'll see a close image of his own team.

Not a good thing.

Those Raiders had been built into a title contender by John Gruden, mostly because Rich Gannon was playing at MVP level. Just like Tony Dungy built up a championship team with Peyton Manning.

The year following Gruden's departure, first year head coach Bill Callahan leads the Raiders to the Super Bowl and loses. Just like first year coach Caldwell led the Colts to a Super Bowl and lost in his first year.

In Callahan's second year, NFL MVP Gannon breaks his neck and ends his career. The aging team plummets to the bottom of the league and would remain there for a decade. Almost like the Colts. This years Colts team was really old and awful and only won the games it did because of Manning. Had Manning gotten hurt like Gannon did, there is no doubt that the Colts were a 2-14 team.

Most troubling for Caldwell is that after the Raiders plunged into craptitude, Al Davis realized that Callahan wasn't a good head coach and that he only got to the SB because Gruden left so much behind. Davis promptly fired him. I don't know what the Colts owner sees, or doesn't see, in Caldwell but Manning is nearing the end of his time as the dominant NFL QB, even if he didn't get hurt. Given the Colts rapidly closing window of contention, if Irsay gets it in his head that Caldwell is just riding on Dungy's fumes, then his tenure could follow the same two year arc that Callahan's did.