Could the Colts Seize the South?

NBC 2 videographer A.J. Schub looks at the Colts chances of a division title.

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A three game lead with five games to play.  In the NFL that sort of a cushion is exactly what a division leading team should hope for with a little more than a month remaining in the regular season. That kind of a lead is as hard to give away as it would be to hand out a pair of tickets to see the Kansas City Chiefs play at the Cleveland Browns during Week 14.  That collapse would be of epic proportions, but not unheard of.

Let us take a trip in our DeLorean back to the year 1993, and to the city of Miami. The 'Phins were leading the AFC East by one game over the Buffalo Bills (not exactly the same scenario as the Texans/Colts in 2012, but hear me out).  Miami had just cruised through its ninth win of the season defeating the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving (the Texans just beat the Lions on Thanksgiving for their 10th win, the irony!) and the Bills were coming off of a loss to playoff bound Kansas City. Five games to play in the season, the Dolphins had a one game lead with their next three at home, including one contest against the Bills.  Then Miami collapsed.

The Dolphins would go 0-5 down the stretch and were outscored 165-115, including a 47-34 loss to the aforementioned Buffalo Bills.  That is just one case in the last 20 years where a stellar team has collapsed and found themselves out of the playoff race, but it is not the only one. 

The Houston Texans could be the next team to inexplicably falter and cave into the pressure. They may finish the year 5-0.  They also could easily drop three of their last five, lose the division and still make the playoffs.  If you're a Colts fan, that is what you hope for.  You hope for the Colts to beat the Texans both times they play in the next five weeks and for Houston to drop at least one of the games they play against the Titans, Vikings, and Patriots. That, however, wouldn't secure anything for the Colts.

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Indy would need to end their year rolling off five consecutive victories (six if you start by counting last week's win versus Buffalo, the same team to surpass Miami all those years ago....) against three teams that combine for a current record of 9-24, and then two games against Houston. If the blue and white tame the three bottom feeding teams and knock off Houston once, the Week 17 match-up between the top two teams in the South could very well have division championship implications.

The scenario involving the Colts and Texans is very similar to that of the Bills and Dolphins two decades ago. Miami, like Houston, controlled their own destiny but lost to the team behind them in the standings.  Indianapolis hopes to pull off a miracle of their own by beating the division leading Texans two times in the final three weeks of the season to get a chance at the division crown. I would tell Colts fans to believe in miracles, but the funny thing is that they already do. It's a miracle that the worst team from the 2011 season is in the hunt for a division title. It's a miracle the team has held it together for their coach as he battles cancer. It's a miracle that the loss of one of the greatest quarterbacks of this generation did not cause the franchise to wallow in the NFL's cellar for half a decade. This Colts team thrives on beating the odds. Yes, they need a bit of help, but it's not impossible.