| Table of contents |
|
2 Players of note 3 External link |
In 1953, Carroll Rosenbloom became the principal owner of the new NFL Baltimore Colts. In 1958, coached by Hall of Famer Weeb Ewbank, the Colts defeated the New York Giants 23-17 in the NFL championship game, an overtime contest sometimes called "The Greatest Game Ever Played." The Colts repeated as NFL champions in 1959, beating the Giants again, 31-16. In the early 1960s the Colts continued as an elite NFL team although they lost the NFL championship game in 1964 to the Cleveland Browns, 27-0.
In 1968, after a 13-1 season, they gained a measure of revenge against the Browns, defeating them 34-0 in the NFL championship game. The 13-1 regular season and the trouncing of the Browns led NFL-based media to call the Colts "the greatest pro football team of all time". The Colts went into the third AFL-NFL World Championship Game against the American Football League's New York Jets as 17-point favorites, with NFL icons like Pro Bowlers Bobby Boyd (db), Mike Curtis (lb), John Mackey (te), Tom Matte (rb), Fred Miller (dl), Earl Morrall (qb), Willie Richardson (wr), and Bob Vogel (ol).
The result of the game was one of the greatest upsets in sports history as Joe Namath and Matt Snell led the American Football League champion Jets to a World Championship over the NFL's Colts, 16-7. Ironically, the Jets were coached by Weeb Ewbank, who had previously led the Colts to two NFL titles.
Rosenbloom, Art Modell (Browns), and Art Rooney (Steelers) facilitated the NFL merger with the American Football League, by joining the ten AFL teams in the AFC. After the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970, the Colts moved to the American Football Conference (AFC) and won the AFC championship against the Oakland Raiders 27-17. Baltimore went on to win the first post-merger Super Bowl (Super Bowl V) against the NFC's Dallas Cowboys 16-13, on a Jim O'Brien field goal. Since there was only one league after 1969, the Colts' 1970 Super Bowl win was the NFL championship, as were all Super Bowls thereafter.
In 1972, Rosenbloom traded the Colts to Robert Irsay for the Los Angeles Rams. The Colts made the playoffs four more times in the 1970s, but from 1978 through 1983 did not have a winning season. Having fallen on hard times, and wanting a new stadium, team owner Robert Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis in 1984 in the middle of the night, after the Maryland legislature threatened to give the city of Baltimore the right to seize the team by eminent domain. Since 1984, the Colts have had mixed success at best. They have appeared in playoffs seven years since 1987, with their best advance to the AFC championship game in 1995, when they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-16. In the 2003 season, they won the AFC South Division title, defeated the Denver Broncos in the wild-card playoff, and advanced to play the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional playoff, winning 38-31.
Not to be forgotten:
Franchise history
The team that is currently the Indianapolis Colts can be said to have had a long trip to get to where they are today. Officially the NFL considers the Colts to have began play in 1953 in Baltimore. That team had previously been the Boston Yanks 1944-48, New York Bulldogs 1949, New York Yanks 1950-51 and the Dallas Texans 1952.
Meanwhile, there was another team called the Baltimore Colts who played one season in the NFL 1950. That team had started out in AAFC in 1946 as the Miami Seahawks and had played from 1947 to 1949 as the Baltimore Colts in the AAFC.Players of note
Pro Football Hall of Famers:
Current stars:
Retired numbers:
19 Johnny Unitas
22 Buddy Young
24 Lenny Moore
70 Art Donovan
77 Jim Parker
82 Raymond Berry
89 Gino MarchettiExternal link