HOW TO LOSE A LEGACY IN 20 MINUTES

When Jim Caldwell decided to insert Curtis Painter into the game last night, with 5:36 left in the third quarter, I was just as shocked as everyone watching.  The fact that an organization would just spit in the faces of all of their fans and the sport was hard to watch.  Now I know you're probably thinking, "Shut up grandpa, do you want the leather helmets back too?"  But, you have to admit that the fans in the stadium had a point.  Now, I'm going to do something scary and try to get into the mind of Jim Caldwell (who, coincidentally, spoke for the first time that I know of last night) and then get right out before I lose any more brain cells.

We Need to Rest for the Playoffs Argument

This argument is the main point of the Colts' organizations rationale, but it has no basis in recent Colts history.  Do we really need to bring up 2005 where they started 13-0, rested their players and lost their first playoff game?  Apparently I do.  In any case, they have a past of using this "resting" strategy and it always backfires.  I can understand that guys are nicked up and need to rest, but then why go out and play them for more than a half and not even announce prior to the game what your strategy was?  Were they hoping that somehow the Colts would be up by 21 and this wouldn't even be an issue?  If you watch The Office, this reminded me of the Halloween episode where Michael had to fire someone and Jim said , "I think he keeps hoping that someone's gonna volunteer or be run over by a bus before the deadline."  That's what that strategy was.  They pretty much told their fans, "I know you've been following us all year and really wanted to see something special, but we decided against that for your own good.  Trust us."  Which brings us to our next point.

The Main Goal is not a Perfect Season, It's to win the Super Bowl

I know the goal is to win the championship.  Any moron knows the goal of a season is to be number one in the end.  Jim Caldwell was nice enough to spell out for us that the Colts' goal in training camp was not for a perfect season, it was for a title.  No crap.  Who would go into the season with a perfect record as the goal and go 19-0.  Things change Jim.  When you, all of a sudden, are 14-0, then goals can change.  What if I bought XYZ stock at $10 a share and my goal was to triple my money in the year.  All of a sudden the stock is at $29 a share in six months, but my rationale is, "I'm not going to sell because my goal was $30."  How stupid is that?  When you have a chance to make history and become the greatest team ever and for Peyton Manning to cement his staus as the best quarterback ever, I think you have to take that plunge.  You pretty much told all of your players to screw off and we know best.  Are they really going to fight for you from this point on?  They are professionals for sure, but they can't help but feel the wheels have been kicked out fo them here.  I mean, they're only human.  Was the 10 minutes of rest really worth scarring Curtis Painter for life and losing the trust of your players?

Look what happened to the Patriots

This is my favorite of all the retarded arguments out there.  People think that the stress of 19-0 ultimately brought down the Patriots.  Every game was the Super Bowl and they never took the pedal off the metal and were worn out by the time they lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl.  Admittedly, they did not look sharp in that game and the Giants deserved to win.  But, do you really forget one of the flukiest plays of all time was the reason for 18-1?  That play could not happen like that if they tried it 100 times in a row.  The Pats could have easily gone 19-0 and they had already won three Super Bowls already.  If you're Peyton Manning, you already have a Super Bowl, now is the time to cement your legacy.

I'm a little disappointed in Manning.  While it is ultimately the coach and management's decision on who plays or not, the bottom line is YOU'RE PEYTON F***ING MANNING!!!  You can do whatever the hell you want.  Demand to be put back in the game.  You have earned the right to override your coach.  Hell, there are many that believe Manning actually coaches the team.  I can't give him too much crap though, at the end of the day this falls on the Colts' organization.  I really hope this bites them in the ass in the end.