Have you ever left a room, tried closing the door, only to watch the door remain slightly ajar? That’s what the Indianapolis Colts did this off-season. A losing record, the firing of the brain trust, the dismissal of coach Caldwell and speculation about the retirement of veterans like Jeff Saturday had already brought a decade-long run to a near end.
On Tuesday, the Colts slammed the door shut, releasing Peyton Manning, and putting an end to an era that made the RCA Dome one of the most feared venues in football. It’s easy to get all misty-eyed about the departure of Manning, and indeed, it is a sad thing when that one player who has worn that one uniform for so long leaves to put on another, but the era had already come to an end. With different personnel on the sideline, Reggie Wayne and Jeff Saturday also potentially on their way out of Indianapolis and a 2-14 record destroying any semblance of the old Colts mystique, a decade of dominance had already come to an end. This was simply a painless way to cut Manning loose and put an official end to a decade of really good football.
On one hand, we’re left to wonder why the Colts couldn’t let Manning stay on for one more year? Why not have Andrew Luck study under one of the greatest quarterbacks that ever lived? Doesn’t sound like a half-bad plan to me. Return Saturday and Wayne for one last campaign, and perhaps have that storybook ending that we were all so tragically denied. Imagine how wonderful an Indianapolis playoff run would have been in 2012 with Manning under center. But even then, the split would have had to come eventually. Who knows how long Manning wants to remain in football? And I doubt that Andrew Luck dominated the Pac-12 just so he could sit on the bench at Lucas Oil Stadium for the next three years. In a sense, this day had to come. If not today, then tomorrow. If not this year, then next year. There’s only so much longer that Indianapolis could have pushed this off for. If they pushed it off another year, they would have had to pay Manning $28 million, so cutting him seems like a perfectly logical move to me. It’s amazing how people can forget that $28 million is a pretty big deal once sentimentality sweeps in.
So, we can shed a tear, but at the same time, we shouldn’t be surprised by this move. If it wasn’t time yet, the time was coming, and once the Colts decided to remove the Polians, it was time to remove Manning as well. It’s unfortunate to see a great hero walk away in this fashion. A Twitter-obsessed owner didn’t help maintain the dignity of the process, but regardless, off he goes. And as sad as this might be, Manning left us enough memories to last a lifetime, memories of 40-yard heaves downfield to Marvin Harrison, and zingers over the middle to an inexplicably wide-open Reggie Wayne streaking across the end zone. He left us memories of an offense that seemed to run so smoothly that it would never fade away, made the turf of the RCA Dome appear slick under the whir of his receivers’ feet and barked out instructions at the line in a way that we all imitated in our own backyards at one point or another. They were already distant memories by the time the 2010 season ended, perhaps they became memories as soon as offensive mastermind Tom Moore departed Indianapolis for greener pastures. Now, the memories can be etched in stone.
Because now, the awkward transition time is over. The present has officially become the past, and the Colts will move on. Luck will take his lumps, and as soon as the Colts lose their first few games, the cries will begin about how Indianapolis was overly hasty in giving Manning the boot. But Colts fans would be wise to give Luck time, and to let him grow at his own rate. Don’t forget that even the man with the golden arm tossed 28 interceptions during his rookie season. Meanwhile, Manning will find his new place. Indeed, he already has a firm place in NFL history. No matter how clumsily the Colts may have slammed the door.
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