EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

CNNSI.com GROUP
 Sports Illustrated
 Life of Reilly
 Television
 SI Women
 SI for Kids
 Press Room
 TBS/TNT Sports
 CNN Languages

COMMERCE
 SI Customer Service
 SI Media Kits
 Get into College
 Sports Memorabilia
 TeamStore

Shape up or ship out

Colts try to cap off record turnaround with one more win

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Wednesday December 22, 1999 01:20 PM

By Jon A. Dolezar, CNN/SI

	• Storylines • Flags and Flattery • Direct Snaps • Must Sees & Mismatches • The Bottom Line

On the brink of a new millennium, the Indianapolis Colts stand poised to complete the biggest single-season turnaround in NFL history.

After going 3-13 in 1998, few people picked the Colts to make the playoffs, let alone win their division. But Jim Mora's team has surprised us all by riding their high-octane offense to a 12-2 record with two games to play, giving them a nine-game improvement over last year's record.

That difference of nine games from one season to the next tied the 1929 New York Giants and the 1963 Oakland Raiders for the top about-face from one season to the next in the history of the league.

No one should really be surprised, though, as the Colts have a history of dramatic one-season turnarounds. There have been 19 turnarounds of seven games or better from one season to the next in the history of the NFL, and the Colts now have four of those, with a seven-game improvement in 1983 under Frank Kush, and eight-game improvements in 1975 and 1992 both with Ted Marchibroda at the helm.

The Colts can set the record for the largest turnaround in NFL history with a victory at Cleveland or at Buffalo in either of their last two games.

Santa's surprise Broncos and Lions hook up in Detroit in the league's seventh Dec. 25 game.

Stayin' alive 20 teams are still alive for the 12 playoff spots, meaning coal in the stocking for eight teams in the next two weeks.

Theodry Carruth Looks like she wants to use her son's infamy to get her 15 minutes. Go away please and let justice run its course.

Steel City mayhem Slash is now a pariah, the coach can't go to the grocery store, and the organization still won't spend any money to get better in the offseason. Art Rooney must be rolling over in his grave.

Flag -- Jeff Triplette: Easy there, Nolan Ryan. You don't have to fire your BB-filled flag at his face. The TV cameras will still find it if you just DROP the flag on the field.

Flattery -- Qadry Ismail: A 1,000-yard season after two years with exactly zero catches has him poised to cash in as an unrestricted free agent.

Flattery -- Marcus Robinson: There must be something in the water in Europe, as vets of NFL Europe have blown up this season like never before.

Flag -- Overbearing owners: Daniel Snyder must've had a poster of Jerry Jones in his room growing up, because he sure likes to meddle like Mr. Cowboy.

Flag -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: You guys might as well have missed the plane to Oakland, or at least bothered to go sightseeing in the Bay Area instead of showing up with that effort.

Does Jaguars left tackle Tony Boselli ever make a mistake?

Jevon Kearse should not only win the NFL defensive rookie of the year award, but you could possibly make an argument for him as an MVP candidate as well.

I'm starting to think that Brian Billick could put me in his offensive scheme and we'd move the ball, especially considering that prior to this year Tony Banks' career numbers weren't much better than mine.

What will people in Green Bay do in January without the Packers to watch in the playoffs?

Jacksonville at Tennessee (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET). Not like the loser will miss the playoffs, but the Jags take the division and a first-round bye with a win or a tie.

Kansas City at Seattle (Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET). Chiefs head to the Northwest hoping to bring a division title back to Arrowhead with them.

Green Bay at Tampa Bay (Sunday, 4:15 p.m. ET). The Bucs can clinch the NFC Central with a win and some help, but the rival Packers still have playoff hopes of their own if they pull the upset.

With the tightly bunched races, the playoff teams likely won't know until Sunday night, January 2, 2000, who they are playing and where they will play. Let's hope they have good travel agents and that any Y2K travel problems have been worked out by the second weekend of the New Year. So settle down for a long winter's nap, but please don't sleep too long or you'll miss some thrilling NFL action over the last two weekends of the season.

Copyright © 2000 CNN/Sports Illustrated An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines.