Here we go again…Yes, the Colts, the last of the undefeated teams; finally lost on Sunday.  Yes, they took their starters out in the final quarter and a half of the game.

Is it a big deal?  No, of course not.  They’re going to the playoffs and they’re going to have home field advantage throughout.  They’ll also have a first round bye to boot.

I’m sure the Saints said the same thing last week too.  Then, they went out and choked against the Bucs.  Now, their home field advantage could be in doubt.  Not to mention, they’ve looked pretty pathetic the past few weeks.  Signs of letdown?  Too early to tell, but you HAVE to be worried if you’re a Saints fan right now.  The Saints took the “we’re playing” approach and are falling apart too.  I guess my point is this, losing games now, isn’t good no matter what strategy you employ.

Personally, this all comes down to your strategy heading into the playoffs.  Easy Strategy: take it easy, rest your guys and be healthy.  Hard Strategy: you play your butts off to the finish line, try to win out, and stay sharp.  For these two teams, it could have been a change at THE Perfect Season.  Unfortunately, both failed, but this discussion isn’t just limited to undefeated teams.  This argument is still pertinent once you essentially have nothing else left to play for (home field, byes, etc).

In my opinion, Caldwell took the easy way out.  Why? Cause it’s easy to sit your guys and play the safe hand.  Who is going to fault you for that?  Probably not too many people.  Sure, we all want to see a perfect season (unless it’s the Patriots…lol), but in the end that’s a selfish goal on our behalf as football fans.  The real goal for the Colts is hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy at the end of the season.  This is where I have the problem.

The Colts will get a bye after the regular season.  Doesn’t that qualify as rest, getting healthy, etc?  I think it does.  Really, the bulk of this discussion falls under the I-can’t-afford-to-get-any-of-my-studs-hurt column.  Fair enough.  But, how many snaps per game and per season do your guys play?  You can go down on any play, not just second half plays, not just plays in the last two weeks of the season.  I’m a fan of keeping your routine, staying sharp, and the never let up attitude.

The situation, after Sunday’s game, will give the Colts almost 3 weeks before they play another meaningful football game.  Cause we all know they won’t play much of their starters next week, then the bye, then finally a real game.  Who knows, that next meaningful game may be against this same NY Jets team that beat them.  How about that one?  After 3 weeks of doing what?  I don’t like that one at all, especially against a team who has been hot and playing hard for the past few weeks.

Consider the NY Giants from two seasons ago.  If they rest their guys against Brady and the Pats, do they win the SB?  I honestly don’t think they do.  That was a huge confidence builder, not to mention a great game to compare yourself against a likely playoff & SB foe.  And, we all know how that worked out.

You can also look at recent history and the last several Super Bowl WINNERS have not rested their guys down the stretch.  The 2004 Eagles and 2006 Bears rested down the stretch and both lost their SB games.  That isn’t definitive since the teams still made it to the show, but I also didn’t address teams that were favorites; but fell short of even making the SB.  I’m sure there are plenty of examples there too.  Here is an interesting article describing the Colts recent struggles.

Okay, I’ll stop beating this one like a dead horse.  Hopefully the Colts Super Bowl aspirations aren’t dead also…