Playoffs may be a formality

So the Indianapolis Colts are in the postseason.
Still, somehow, the famous, incredulous Jim Mora quote — “Playoffs?! You want to talk about playoffs? You kiddin’ me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game.” — seems more appropriate for how the last six weeks of the Colts’ season has gone.
Indianapolis is 3-3 since its bye, which followed a home win over Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.
In that stretch the Colts (8-5) have suffered embarrassing, blowout losses to the Arizona Cardinals and lowly St. Louis Rams. They couldn’t do anything to slow down the playoff-bound Bengals on Sunday.
Two of their three wins have come against the mediocre Titans, and they needed to rally from a 14-0 deficit for one of them. The other was over hapless Houston.
They “earned” a playoff berth despite Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati mostly because of the ineptitude of the rest of their division and the AFC overall.
The recent play is a drastic change from the first seven weeks of the season, when Indianapolis looked like a Super Bowl favorite thanks to wins over San Francisco, Seattle and Denver.
What has become clear since then is the Colts are the epitome of the average — capable of beating any team on any given Sunday and just as capable of losing to any team.
Indy ranks 18th in the league in passing yards and 22nd in rushing yards. It is 18th against the pass. And, as usual, it struggles to stop the run, ranking fourth-worst in the NFL in that category.
In comparison, both New Orleans and Cincinnati rank in the top 10 in both total offense and total defense. Denver is No. 1 in offense. Seattle is No. 1 in defense.
Every team in the league has some holes. But the contenders, the true contenders, are elite at something. The Colts are not.
They had a chance to be an elite passing offense, but without Reggie Wayne that possibility has disappeared.
So what are fans to expect of this team the rest of the way? Should they be excited that it is headed to the postseason or despaired as they await what seems like an inevitable early exit.
There is always hope.
Baltimore didn’t look anything like a Super Bowl contender for most of last season. But the Ravens got their act together, Joe Flacco played the best football of his life (earning an outrageous contract extension in the process) and they won the championship.
Still, it’s hard to get too excited about Indianapolis right now.
Yes, the Colts are one of just three teams to have clinched a playoff berth (despite the fact that six teams have better records), they are guaranteed a home game in the first round and they look as if they will reach double-digit wins for the second year in a row after the dismal 2011 season.
But with the way they’ve been playing, it’s hard to imagine their playoff appearance will be anything more than a formality.[[In-content Ad]]