Adam Schefter of ESPN delivers us some pretty devastating injury news (via PFT):

Safety Melvin Bullitt will miss the rest of the season after breaking a bone in his shoulder, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.   Bullitt was Bob Sanders' replacement in the starting lineup and a special teams captain.

Replacing Sanders has turned into a full-time role the last few years.  Bullitt has started 15 out of the last 18 games he's played, with 25 starts since 2005. 

While the Bob Sanders and Anthony Gonzalez injuries to start the 2010 season were annoying and frustrating, they were not devastating. The Colts had won games without both players in previous years, and nearly won a Super Bowl last year without either player making much of a contribution. One of the reasons the Colts were able to 'soldier on' was because of stable back-ups like Melvin Bullitt.

However, losing both Sanders for much of the season and Bullitt for the entire season is crushing news.

Without their two best strong safeties, the Colts have a serious problem in their already leaky secondary. Personally, I feel sick for Bullitt. All he's done his whole career is step in for the oft-injured Bob Sanders. Now, with Sanders injured again, he was asked to come in again and be the steady rock he's always been. Then, this happens.

Tough kid. I really hope he recovers fully and sticks around here in Indy for many years to come.

Back-up safeties currently on the roster are DaJuan Morgan and Brandon King. Both are more special teams players than full-time starting safeties.