Murmuring in Colt Land

[Mr. Scot]

From PFT:

Plug gets pulled early on Polian's radio show

Colts coach Jim Caldwell wasn't the only guy taking heat for the ill-advised decision to throw back a chance at perfection like a fish not big enough to be a "keeper."

Team president Bill Polian has been getting hammered, too. And he faced the wrath of Colts fans during his Monday radio show.

And as pointed out by the folks at StampedeBlue.com, the one-hour program abruptly ended with 10 minutes to go, just as a caller had Polian on the run regarding Polian's position that injured starters shouldn't play in a meaningless game. The caller correctly explained that the decision to remove quarterback Peyton Manning and other healthy players had nothing to do with injuries.

At that point, the show went dead.

As StampedeBlue.com aptly puts it, "[J]ust like pulling the starters Sunday, Bill Polian seemed to pull himself out of the show early to avoid further injury."

Per the blog, Polian was "rude" throughout the show to callers who took exception with the decision not to go for the win.

Plenty of league insiders will respond to this news by concluding that Polian's temper has finally caught up with him -- and by taking a certain amount of pleasure in seeing him get what plenty of league insiders believe he deserves for years of subjecting folks in the business to the same attitude he demonstrated on Monday night when criticized for blowing a chance at perfection.

Colts ask fans to quit posting messages

Last night, team president Bill Polian's weekly radio show ended 10 minutes early, just as a caller had Polian on the ropes regarding the logical disconnect between resting injured starters for a meaningless game and pulling healthy starters from a close one.

Now, a reader points out that the Colts have asked folks who post messages on the team's official "Fan Forum" to quit complaining.

Under the heading "Enough is enough," site moderator named "TubaGuy" makes this plea: "Up to this point we have been letting people vent and get their emotion out. I think it has been needed, and we didn't want to shut it down. However, now it's getting to the point of being childish and VERY repetitive. At some point, probably Tuesday or Wednesday, it is time to move on. Whether you agree or disagree with the coaching move, this forum needs to move forward. We still have a lot of playing to do, and we need to come together and focus on the future. Let's move on, people. . . ."

Though it's not the first time an NFL team has tried to nudge the discussion on its message boards in a different direction, the fact that the Colts find themselves in this predicament reconfirms that the organization grossly underestimated the local reaction to the abandonment of the quest for perfection with less than 1.5 regular-season games to play.

So either the Colts aren't too smart, or they're extremely arrogant. We'll let PFT commenters debate this and any other topic for as long as they want.

[Davidson Deac II]

Jim Caldwell is a nice guy. He failed miserably at Wake, but I hope he succeeds in the NFL. If Polian was the one calling the shots, then that sucks. It should be the head coach call and no one else.

IMO if you have a chance to go for an undefeated season, you go for it. No doubt about it. Its to much of a unique accomplishment not to try.

[Darth Biscuit]

I bet this was all Polian's decision and it's going to come back to haunt them me thinks.

[Murph]

It was a huge screw up. No doubt about that. Fans paid their money to see their players play and try to win. Only in the final game of the season when a game will not help or hurt playoff standings will a home teams fans forgive the pulling of stars.

It is one thing for a team to have it's ultimate goal to win the Superbowl and another to put so much emphisis on it that you do something stupid like they did. Fans have a right to complain and I'll bet other team owners, presidents, GM's and HC's are taking note.