The Colts have high hopes for this season. How high?
Owner Jim Irsay isn’t afraid to put the Super Bowl out there as the goal.
“This team is one of the best teams that I’ve had the privilege to bring to our fans,” Irsay said Saturday, via Joel Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. “It honestly matches some of those days of Peyton [Manning], Edgerrin [James], Reggie [Wayne], all of those guys.”
The Colts’ last Super Bowl title came in Miami when Indianapolis beat the Bears in XLI to end the 2006 season. Super Bowl LIV is in Miami in February.
Irsay knows first hand it takes more than talent to win a Vince Lombardi Trophy, remembering the 2009 team that lost to the Saints in the Super Bowl after going 14-2 in the regular season.
“You have to have confidence, but it’s tempered by the fact that there is so much that has to happen,” Irsay said. “What I’d like to see us do, and it’s not an essential, but it certainly would be helpful, is to see this team get home-field advantage. You’re two games away from the Super Bowl, both games at home. That is a huge advantage.”
The Colts, though, appear built to contend for awhile, with their window wide open. Franchise quarterback Andrew Luck is only 29, and the Colts have other elite, young talent on both sides of the ball.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Irsay said. “Andrew’s in that sweet spot for him, age-wise, and there’s really not a lot of weakness with the roster.”