From what I’ve heard today, the general sentiment of “fans” was that this season is done for and we should focus on 2009.  Bollocks I say.  The Colts did look terrible last night, but don’t expect that to last.  The Colts will bounce back next weekend against the Vikings.  Step off of the ledge, Colts bandwagoneers.  The Colts aren’t going to miss the playoffs, and they still are a favorite in the AFC.  Here are some of my observations and thoughts from last night’s game.

~The running game was just terrible.  53 yards on 15 carries, which ends up being a 3.5 yards per carry average.  That cannot continue.  The Bears defense was much better than I thought it was, but Addai should have had a much higher YPC than 3.7.  Mike Hart had the last run of the game, and it went for 7 yards.  I don’t understand why he didn’t get more looks.

~Peyton Manning actually had a really nice game.  49 attempts, 30 completions, 257 yards, and a touchdown pass.  81.8 QB rating.  Not bad for a quarterback who had no help from his receivers or running backs.

~The receivers had way too many drops.  Marvin, Anthony, and Reggie all had a few dropped passes that cost the team some drives.

~The offensive line needs Ryan Lilja, Jeff Saturday, and Mike Pollak back.  Badly.

~Dwight Freeney got a sack, so that’s a good sign.  Sanders also had 9 tackles.  Too bad the defense couldn’t get the Bears offense off of the field, who had 31:44 of possession.

~Tony Dungy did terrible.  His challenges were foolish.  The Matt Forte touchdown never should have happened.  It was a bad play call to not even consider a draw occuring.  I got a feeling during the game that Dungy was taking his last season off, but I quickly dismissed that ridiculous thought.

~The Colts gave up too many deep passes to the tight ends.  Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen both had receptions of 26 yards or more.

I mentioned earlier that I am not worried.  Here are five reasons why I’m not going to overreact.

1. Tom Brady is out for the year.  That takes the Patriots out of Super Bowl contention.  I think that they will finish 3rd in the division.  They struggled against the Chiefs, who could be the worst team in the league.  Matt Cassell, Tim Rattay, and Chris Simms cannot lead this team to the playoffs.

2. The Chargers and Jaguars struggled and lost as well.  We are not alone.  The other contenders have the same record as us and just as many problems.

3. This wasn’t too surprising.  The Colts were going to be rusty.  We just didn’t know how rusty.  The Colts will be back and clicking next week.

4. The Bears are good.  Matt Forte was amazing.  We Colts fans knew that since he was a prime target of ours during prior to the draft.  The defense is back to its old dominant ways.

5. It’s the NFL, not college.  A season can’t be over after Week 1.  By how bad the AFC teams looked last week.  10 or 11 wins would guarantee the playoffs.  We won’t lose that many games.

So Colts “fans”, stay loyal or get out.  Don’t sell your tickets to the opponent’s fans.  The Bears fans packing the place is explainable because of all of the Bears fans living here.  If I see a lot of purple next Sunday, I am going to be really mad at the season ticket holders who are just in it to make a profit.

http://naptownsfinest.com/2008/09/08/colts-13-bears-29-dont-worry/