Sunday 29 January 2017 12:56, UK
Indianapolis Colts were catapulted to the foreground of the NFL at the end of the 20th century when one of the game's all-time great quarterbacks drove a dramatic upturn in their fortunes.
Peyton Manning joined the Colts in 1998 and orchestrated the most successful period in their history by leading them to eight division titles, two conference titles and one Super Bowl by the end of the 2009 season.
He won four NFL MVP awards and one Super Bowl MVP award as the focal point of the Colts offence during that time. Previously, the Colts had been based in Baltimore and enjoyed moderate success there, too. They notched up 16 winning seasons between 1953 and 1983 on their way to two pre-merger NFL Championships and one Super Bowl title in 1970, thanks to the unparalleled talents of quarterback, Johnny Unitas, and later head coach, Don Shula.
The franchise was moved to Indianapolis in 1984 after six consecutive losing seasons in Baltimore and it took the new outfit four seasons to overturn it. All of 19 seasons and 10 playoffs appearances later and they were well into the Manning era and onto their first Super Bowl title for 36 years in the 2007 victory over Chicago Bears in Miami, Florida.
Indianapolis also made the Super Bowl in January 2010, but fell to a feisty, post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Saints squad that was looking for a first title in franchise history.
The Colts haven't played in a championship game since and have struggled to cope with a post-Manning era. He was released following spine surgery in 2011 and the team slumped to their worst season in 20 years with a 2-14 record that year.
The high expectations the fans now have in Indianapolis after a winning decade have not yet been met, but quarterback Andrew Luck is the kind of talent that can emulate the success of his predecessor and take them to dizzy heights once again.
