Colts Hang “At Least We Tried” Banner Inside Lucas Oil Stadium

Image courtesy of Zimbio

Ranting and raving about ‘Deflategate’ aside, the fact is, was, and will always be, that the Patriots absolutely humiliated the Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship in January. Indianapolis scored its only touchdown of the game in the second quarter and New England went on to win 45-7.

Even though Tom Brady’s deflated balls would become the biggest story, not just of the game, but the year to date, playing with a few footballs at two PSI below the league limit did not cost the Colts the game. They were dominated on every front by a superior team.

Third-year quarterback Andrew Luck played the worst game of his career at the worst possible time, completing just 12 of 33 passes for 126 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. It was also the fourth time in four tries Luck was routed by New England.

As if the lopsided loss wasn’t bad enough on its own, it certainly wasn’t the way Luck, who has just one year left on his rookie deal, wanted to finish going into an offseason of contract negotiations.

Point being, last season wasn’t particularly great for Indianapolis. Their 11-5 record and division win doesn’t mean as much in the AFC South, which has been a dumpster fire for a very long time. The only division that was worse was the NFC South, and not by much.

Okay, so right now you may be asking yourself something like, is it National Shit on the Colts Day or something? Piling on an Indy team that reached the AFC Championship led by an eminently likable Luck six months after the fact seems needless and excessive, right?

I spy a new #Colts banner inside @LucasOilStadium. We're live from mini-camp beginning 4p #TheNowIndy on @rtv6 pic.twitter.com/wLDkp4YOSE

— Dave Furst (@DaveFurst) June 10, 2015

Well it would be, if the Colts didn’t decide to hang their very own participation trophy from the rafters inside Lucas Oil Stadium. Normally teams hang banners to celebrate a noteworthy achievement of some sort—that doesn’t usually include finishing runner-up in a conference championship game.

But that’s exactly what they did with their “2014 AFC Finalist” banner, commemorating the time they finished in last place against the Patriots, falling a mere 41 points short of the Super Bowl. That just doesn’t seem like something anyone, outside of New England, would want to remember.

Which really makes you wonder about the story behind how the banner—actually, banners, as the Colts have been celebrating coming up short for over a decade—came to be.

It’s hard to imagine it doesn’t involve Indy’s media whore owner Jim Irsay climbing out of an empty pill bottle long enough to do something….anything….that would that would get the Colts in the news for something other than their inability to lock down Luck long-term.

Even though Irsay has been running his mouth about how the superstar quarterback will be in Indianapolis for “a very long time,” he has yet to put his money where his mouth is. And hanging a banner that will be a lasting tribute to Luck’s worst game ever isn’t likely to get Irsay a discount on his services.

Ah well! Fake it to you make it, right?