In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).
Previous Teams:
AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens, and Bengals
NFC North: Packers, Vikings, Bears, and Lions
AFC South: Jaguars
NFC South: Panthers
The Colts have been blessed with two Hall of Fame coaches, but oddly, one could argue that neither Tony Dungy nor Don Shula did their best work with the Colts. Both made their names in Florida: Shula as the long-time coach of the Dolphins, and Dungy as the man who turned around Tampa Bay. Still, these two have left a strong mark on Colts history: without Dungy, the Colts would have a losing record; overall, the team is 516-459-7. There’s another shared history between Dungy and Shula: immediate Super Bowl success after they left. When Dungy left Tampa Bay, the Bucs won the championship in the team’s first season without him. When Shula left for Miami, the Colts under Don McCafferty won the team’s first Super Bowl. But as much success as the franchise has had under these two coaches, it’s probably fair to say that the better way to understand this franchise is by examining their quarterbacks. But before we get to that, a moment to stop and pause for Weeb Ewbank, who was one of the two best coaches in Jets history and remains the only coach since World War II to win NFL titles as head coach of two different franchises. Ewbank did it in iconic style, beating the Colts in Super Bowl III as head coach of the New York Jets, and leading the Colts to a title against the New York Giants in The Greatest Game Ever Played.
| Ovr Rk | Coach | G | W | L | T | HC Win % | FrG | FrW | FL | FrT | Fr W% | Win% w/o HC | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Tony Dungy | 112 | 85 | 27 | 0 | 0.759 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.499 | 3% |
| 28 | Don Shula | 98 | 71 | 23 | 4 | 0.745 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.505 | 2.4% |
| 93 | Don McCafferty | 33 | 22 | 10 | 1 | 0.682 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.524 | 0.5% |
| 129 | Chuck Pagano | 96 | 53 | 43 | 0 | 0.552 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.527 | 0.2% |
| 144 | Frank Reich | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 0.625 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.527 | 0.2% |
| 165 | Jim Caldwell | 48 | 26 | 22 | 0 | 0.542 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.528 | 0.1% |
| 178 | Weeb Ewbank | 112 | 59 | 52 | 1 | 0.531 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.529 | 0% |
| 211 | Hal Hunter | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.53 | -0.1% |
| 219 | John Sandusky | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.444 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.53 | -0.1% |
| 269 | Ron Meyer | 71 | 36 | 35 | 0 | 0.507 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 277 | Jim Mora | 64 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 0.5 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 293 | Ted Marchibroda | 138 | 71 | 67 | 0 | 0.514 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 338 | Keith Molesworth | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0.25 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.532 | -0.3% |
| 356 | Joe Thomas | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0.182 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.533 | -0.4% |
| 381 | Rick Venturi | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0.091 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.534 | -0.5% |
| 387 | Howard Schnellenberger | 17 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 0.235 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.534 | -0.5% |
| 388 | Lindy Infante | 32 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 0.375 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.534 | -0.5% |
| 447 | Mike McCormack | 32 | 9 | 23 | 0 | 0.281 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.537 | -0.8% |
| 476 | Frank Kush | 40 | 11 | 28 | 1 | 0.288 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.539 | -1% |
| 477 | Rod Dowhower | 29 | 5 | 24 | 0 | 0.172 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.54 | -1.1% |
The Colts have been blessed with two of the best quarterbacks of all time in Peyton Manning and Johnny Unitas. Under Manning, Indianapolis had a 0.678 winning percentage; including Manning’s starts, the Colts have a 0.529 all-time winning percentage; excluding Manning’s starts, and the winning percentage drops to 0.489. And without Unitas, the Colts have an exactly even .500 career mark. Not even Green Bay or San Francisco (although they come very close) have two quarterbacks that improved their franchise’s all-time winning percentages by such a large degree.
And there’s also Earl Morrall from the Baltimore era (22-3-1 in the regular season, on top of an 11-1 mark with the Dolphins; hey that guy had a pretty interesting career). And having Andrew Luck as the third best quarterback in franchise history is a pretty good place to be. On the other side of things, there’s Mike Pagel and Jeff George. The Colts were bad in the early ’80s under Pagel and the early ’90s under George. There are only 10 quarterbacks since 1950 to start 40 games with a team and have a winning percentage under 0.333, and the Colts are the only franchise with two of them.
| Ovr Rk | QB | G | W | L | T | QB Win % | FrG | FrW | FL | FrT | Fr W% | Win% w/o QB | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Peyton Manning | 208 | 141 | 67 | 0 | 0.678 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.489 | 4% |
| 14 | Johnny Unitas | 181 | 117 | 60 | 4 | 0.657 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.500 | 2.9% |
| 68 | Earl Morrall | 26 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 0.865 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.520 | 0.9% |
| 75 | Andrew Luck | 86 | 53 | 33 | 0 | 0.616 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.521 | 0.8% |
| 218 | Chris Chandler | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 0.625 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.527 | 0.2% |
| 286 | Matt Hasselbeck | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0.625 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.528 | 0.1% |
| 297 | Gary Hogeboom | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0.583 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.528 | 0.1% |
| 344 | Browning Nagle | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.529 | 0% |
| 343 | Tom Matte | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.529 | 0% |
| 345 | Josh Freeman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.529 | 0% |
| 367 | Craig Erickson | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.667 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.529 | 0% |
| 460 | Mark Herrmann | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.500 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.529 | 0% |
| 469 | Don Majkowski | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.500 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.529 | 0% |
| 601 | Tom Ramsey | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 596 | Ed Mioduszewski | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 599 | Matt Kofler | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 600 | Blair Kiel | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 598 | David Humm | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 602 | Kelly Holcomb | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 597 | Cotton Davidson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 648 | Gary Cuozzo | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.333 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 665 | Dan Orlovsky | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0.400 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 677 | Paul Justin | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0.429 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 761 | Scott Tolzien | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 760 | Mike Kirkland | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.530 | -0.1% |
| 875 | George Taliaferro | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 876 | Kerry Collins | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 907 | Fred Enke | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0.333 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 952 | George Shaw | 20 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 0.425 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 971 | Gary Kerkorian | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0.300 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.531 | -0.2% |
| 1024 | Bill Troup | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0.273 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.532 | -0.3% |
| 1037 | Bert Jones | 92 | 46 | 46 | 0 | 0.500 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.532 | -0.3% |
| 1052 | Art Schlichter | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.532 | -0.3% |
| 1089 | Greg Landry | 13 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0.231 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.533 | -0.4% |
| 1092 | Jacoby Brissett | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 0.267 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.533 | -0.4% |
| 1102 | Curtis Painter | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0.000 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.533 | -0.4% |
| 1114 | Jim Harbaugh | 46 | 20 | 26 | 0 | 0.435 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.534 | -0.5% |
| 1121 | Marty Domres | 24 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 0.333 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.534 | -0.5% |
| 1171 | Jack Trudeau | 47 | 18 | 29 | 0 | 0.383 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.536 | -0.7% |
| 1200 | Mike Pagel | 47 | 15 | 31 | 1 | 0.330 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.539 | -1% |
| 1211 | Jeff George | 49 | 14 | 35 | 0 | 0.286 | 982 | 516 | 459 | 7 | 0.529 | 0.542 | -1.3% |
As great as the Colts history is with quarterbacks, there’s an equally compelling story to tell about the team’s running backs. Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk are inner circle Hall of Famers. Two of the very best running backs not in the Hall of Fame are Edgerrin James and Lydell Mitchell. A likely future HOF running back in Frank Gore made his way through Indianapolis, too. And then you see that Joseph Addai has led the Colts in rushing almost as often as anyone besides James. Oh, and don’t forget old Baltimore stars Tom Matte (who once started a playoff game for the team at quarterback), Lenny Moore (one of the best players ever), and Alan Ameche (who scored the first championship-winning overtime touchdown in pro football history).
| Rusher | First Yr | Last Yr | Leading Rusher | Total Games | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edgerrin James | 1999 | 2005 | 101 | 105 | 96% |
| Marshall Faulk | 1994 | 1998 | 67 | 79 | 85% |
| Joseph Addai | 2006 | 2011 | 66 | 88 | 75% |
| Lydell Mitchell | 1972 | 1977 | 62 | 84 | 74% |
| Eric Dickerson | 1987 | 1991 | 58 | 62 | 94% |
| Frank Gore | 2015 | 2017 | 45 | 48 | 94% |
| Tom Matte | 1961 | 1972 | 45 | 149 | 30% |
| Lenny Moore | 1956 | 1967 | 44 | 147 | 30% |
| Alan Ameche | 1955 | 1960 | 39 | 72 | 54% |
| Curtis Dickey | 1980 | 1985 | 36 | 70 | 51% |
| Randy McMillan | 1981 | 1986 | 31 | 88 | 35% |
| Joe Washington | 1978 | 1980 | 31 | 47 | 66% |
| Dominic Rhodes | 2001 | 2010 | 27 | 101 | 27% |
| Donald Brown | 2009 | 2013 | 26 | 71 | 37% |
| Jerry Hill | 1961 | 1970 | 24 | 110 | 22% |
| Albert Bentley | 1985 | 1991 | 17 | 89 | 19% |
| Tony Lorick | 1964 | 1967 | 17 | 58 | 29% |
| Norm Bulaich | 1970 | 1972 | 15 | 34 | 44% |
| Anthony Johnson | 1990 | 1993 | 15 | 53 | 28% |
| Roosevelt Potts | 1993 | 1997 | 14 | 49 | 29% |
| Marlon Mack | 2017 | 2018 | 13 | 28 | 46% |
| Vick Ballard | 2012 | 2014 | 13 | 18 | 72% |
| Don McCauley | 1971 | 1981 | 12 | 161 | 7% |
And the Colts have not exactly had bad luck at receiver. For over two decades, the team has been blessed with Hall of Fame talent at the position, as Marvin Harrison passed the torch to Reggie Wayne, who passed the torch to T.Y. Hilton. And there are a pair of Hall of Famers to consider in Raymond Berry and John Mackey, too. The table below shows how many times each player has led the Colts in receiving yards in a game, playoffs plus regular season:
| Receiver | First Yr | Last Yr | Leading Receiver | Total Games | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvin Harrison | 1996 | 2008 | 92 | 206 | 45% |
| Reggie Wayne | 2001 | 2014 | 80 | 232 | 34% |
| T.Y. Hilton | 2012 | 2018 | 61 | 116 | 53% |
| Raymond Berry | 1955 | 1967 | 51 | 158 | 32% |
| Bill Brooks | 1986 | 1992 | 41 | 107 | 38% |
| John Mackey | 1963 | 1971 | 33 | 136 | 24% |
| Jimmy Orr | 1961 | 1970 | 32 | 119 | 27% |
| Sean Dawkins | 1993 | 1997 | 29 | 81 | 36% |
| Lenny Moore | 1956 | 1967 | 29 | 147 | 20% |
| Roger Carr | 1974 | 1981 | 28 | 104 | 27% |
| Ray Butler | 1980 | 1985 | 25 | 79 | 32% |
| Glenn Doughty | 1972 | 1979 | 25 | 106 | 24% |
| Jessie Hester | 1990 | 1993 | 21 | 64 | 33% |
| Jim Mutscheller | 1954 | 1961 | 21 | 97 | 22% |
| Matt Bouza | 1982 | 1989 | 18 | 94 | 19% |
| Willie Richardson | 1963 | 1971 | 17 | 103 | 17% |
| Dallas Clark | 2003 | 2011 | 16 | 127 | 13% |
| Raymond Chester | 1973 | 1977 | 14 | 72 | 19% |
| Eddie Hinton | 1969 | 1972 | 13 | 52 | 25% |
| Pierre Garcon | 2008 | 2011 | 13 | 62 | 21% |
| Tom Mitchell | 1968 | 1973 | 13 | 85 | 15% |
| Lydell Mitchell | 1972 | 1977 | 12 | 84 | 14% |
| Brandon Stokley | 2003 | 2006 | 11 | 47 | 23% |
| Marshall Faulk | 1994 | 1998 | 11 | 79 | 14% |
| Albert Bentley | 1985 | 1991 | 11 | 89 | 12% |
| Ken Dilger | 1995 | 2001 | 11 | 115 | 10% |
| Don McCauley | 1971 | 1981 | 11 | 161 | 7% |
| Reggie Langhorne | 1992 | 1993 | 10 | 32 | 31% |
| Marcus Pollard | 1995 | 2004 | 10 | 157 | 6% |
That’s it for the Colts version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.