Colts embark on quest for 16-game winning streak

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The Indianapolis Colts are getting perfectly picky these days.

Indy is off to its fourth 6-0 start in five years, is one of three remaining unbeaten teams in the league and with a win Sunday against San Francisco would become the eighth team in league history to win 16 consecutive regular-season games.

When outsiders look at the numbers and see Sunday’s matchup as a chance at “perfection,” the insiders contend there is still plenty of work to be done. Indy wants to reduce the number of penalties, the number of turnovers and improve its running game, for starters.

Perhaps that’s the best explanation for why Indy is closing in on a version of the perfect season.

“What have we got, 16 in a row or something like that?” defensive end Dwight Freeney(notes) said when asked about the quest. “Fifteen? I didn’t even know that. I don’t think anybody in here knows that.”

Everybody’s counting these days, though.

New England set the NFL record for consecutive wins (21) between 2006 and 2008. The Patriots also won 18 straight in 2003 and 2004, and Chicago won 17 in a row from 1933-34. Only four other teams have ever won 16—Chicago in 1941-42, Miami from 1971-73 and again in 1983-84 and Pittsburgh in 2004-05. The 2007 Patriots are the only team to ever finish a 16-game season undefeated, though they lost in the Super Bowl.

But the question making the rounds this week is whether a 16-game winning streak, broken up over two seasons and two coaches and interrupted by a painful overtime loss in the playoffs at San Diego, would be the NFL equivalent of golf’s Tiger Slam?

“I guess so,” left tackle Charlie Johnson(notes) said. “But I don’t know what you’d call it. I’m not creative enough to come up with that.”

Indy knows the perils of this chase better than just about any team.

Players like Freeney, three-time MVP Peyton Manning(notes), three-time Pro Bowlers Reggie Wayne(notes) and Jeff Saturday(notes), tight end Dallas Clark(notes) and defensive captain Gary Brackett(notes) were all around back in 2005 when the Colts started 13-0, finished 14-2 and then lost a divisional round playoff game at home to eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh.

The hype was building again the next season when Indy started 9-0. It finished 12-4 but won the Super Bowl, making the lesson clear to everyone about what really matters.

“There’s only one title and that’s ‘Super Bowl champs,’ and that’s it,” cornerback Marlin Jackson(notes) said. “Sixteen in a row, that’s good. But you won’t remember it if you don’t win a Super Bowl.”

What has made the Colts winning streak most impressive is how they’ve done it.

Since their last loss, Oct. 27, 2008, at Tennessee, the Colts have knocked off both of last year’s Super Bowl teams, all four 2008 AFC division champs and the 2008 NFC West champion—all on the road. They also won at Minnesota, the NFC North champ, last year, before the streak began.

This season, they are already 4-0 on the road, have topped 30 points in four straight games and won all four by at least 17 points. Manning is on pace for his second 40-touchdown season, Freeney is chasing the NFL record for most consecutive games with a sack and the usually maligned defense has given up just one touchdown per game.

The veterans realize there’s a long way to go.

“Perfect season? What, are we going to start the playoffs the following week?” Clark said, drawing laughter. “I don’t look at it (the streak) that way. We’re just trying to keep that drive, keep that focus and keep that consistency going.”

Coach Jim Caldwell couldn’t have said it any better himself.

He has matched the best six-game start by any rookie coach since the 1970 merger. A win against the 49ers could make Caldwell the first coach in league history to win his first seven games—if Denver’s Josh McDaniels doesn’t beat him to it. Both coaches have early afternoon starts Sunday.

So would a win create another perfect chapter in the Colts’ streak?

“No,” Caldwell said without hesitation. “I think the thing that we try and do and we’ve always done is you never really get out in front of yourself. We like to add them up at the end. For us, the 49ers are walking in here and we’ve got to be ready to play.”