The NFL's Newest Rivalry: Colts/Chargers

The 2009 NFL playoffs kicked off this weekend with another installment of Wild Card Sunday. There was no bigger match up then the Colts and Chargers as promised. Over the past few seasons these two teams have battled multiple times in the regular season and playoffs. Let's put aside the Cardinals beating a young Falcon's team.(yawn) Let's not even talk about the Ravens beating a feel good Dolphin's team in one of the most boring games of the weekend. I won't even waste my time mentioning the Eagles beating a Vikings team that didn't even deserve to be in the playoffs. I'm still baffled why the Eagles took so long to wake up in that game. The only game that mattered this weekend was the battle of Peyton Manning's Colts verse LaDianian Tomlinson's Chargers. Are they now Darren Sprole's Chargers?

The Colts were the number five seed or top wild card in the AFC playoff picture coming off a regular season where they won their last 9 games dating back to November 2nd. Peyton Manning added another MVP trophy to his belt on Friday, the third of his career.

The Chargers came in as the AFC West champion after winning their last four games to even their record at 8-8. Thank god for the AFC West right? The Chargers were left for dead after losing to Atlanta on November 30th which put them at 4-8. The Broncos had the division on cruise control and then proceeded to lose three of their last four games in December including the last one against the Chargers.A 52-21 pounding for that matter. Mike Shanahan was then fired in a stunning move.

Putting all those things aside we had another four verses five match up in the playoff's where the division winner was awarded the home game. There has been a lot of debate over the past few seasons wether the worst division winner of the four top seeds should even deserve a home playoff game over a wild card team that has better record. This match up was another perfect example. The Indianapolis Colts came in with an astounding 12-4 record and they were the Wild Card. What? In most cases that kind of record wins a division, but this year brought a rare exception with a Titans team that went 13-3. The Chargers were a team that snuck in the playoffs with an 8-8 record basically because their division is one of the poorest in the NFL. (The NFC West has to get the nod for worst division) To the average NFL viewer many would think that this would be an easy game for the Colts, one of the hottest teams in the league. For many Colts fan's it was a dangerous game. These two teams have a lot of history over the past few years. This was probably the only team the Colts wouldn't want to face in the first round or in the playoffs for that matter,regardless of their record this season. The Chargers have always seemed to play well against the Colts, no matter how good they are. One would say that San Diego has Indianapolis's number. 

Let's take a trip back in time to see the memorable match ups between these two rivals. Who could forget last years episode where the Chargers forced Manning to throw 6 interceptions in one of the worst game of his career. Despite the bad performance the Colts still had a chance to steal the victory when kicker Adam Vinatieri missed a chip shot 29-yard field goal with 1:29 remaining in the game to seal the Charger victory. In this years installment(Nov.23) the Colts once again traveled to San Diego for another Sunday Night match up. In a game where the Colts seemed to have total control, the Chargers fought back to tie the game up at twenty with a 1:30 remaining. The Colts proceeded to drive 37 yards on 8 plays to set up Adam Vinatieri for another game winning field goal. Who could of thought that the game would come down to Vinatieri again, a very clutch kicker. I don't think his track record needs to be mentioned, unless you lived under a rock over the past decade. This time redemption couldn't have been any sweeter for Vinatieri as he drilled a 51-yard field goal straight through the up rights. The Colts won the game 23-20 as time expired. This was just another big win for the Colts as they finished the season off with that 9 game winning streak as mentioned before. Some may even forget the 2005 match up where the Colts were 13-0 going for a perfect season. They met the Chargers this time in the RCA Dome. San Diego proceeded to stun the Colts with a 26-17 victory. This spoiled the Colts chance at perfection. So what were the chances that these two teams would meet again in the playoffs? The truth is that these two teams have meet in the postseason before and it was just last year.  

In last years postseason match up the Colts looked to get revenge on a Charger team that seemed to be very fortunate in having Adam Vinatieri miss a chip shot field goal as time expired in the regular season match up. The Colts were at home and poised to move on to play a 17-0 perfect Patriots team in another AFC championship game. It would have been the fourth time in the last five years that those two teams would have met. It seemed to be very similar to the Cowboy-49ers Championship game rivalry over in the NFC of the late 1980 to early 1990's.Putting all that aside many analysts and fans got ahead of themselves because the Chargers had other plans.In this game the Chargers were the victors despite injuries to Philip Rivers and Ladainian Tomlinson. Rivers left the game in the third quarter with a damaged right knee and LT departed from the game at the end of the first half with a bruised left knee. The Chargers were led by backups Billy Volek and Michael Turner in the fourth quarter as they snuck out of Indianapolis with 28-24 win. The Chargers would go on to fall in New England 21-12 a week later and miss the Super Bowl. Even though many would forget the upset win in Indianapolis, it became clear that the Chargers were playing the underdog role very well against the Colts and it would be no different this season. 

The Colts-Chargers 2nd postseason match up added another chapter to this up and coming rivalry. The Colts were hanging on to 17-14 lead late in the fourth quarter when Nate Kaeding notched a 26-yard field to even the game at seventeen. They game would come down to overtime. It would be 25th in the NFL's postseason history. Many would of have thought the league's MVP would take over the sudden death period and lead his team to victory. Manning never had a chance to as the Chargers won the coin toss and drove 75 yards to victory. The touchdown drive was capped off by a Darren Sproles 22-yard touchdown run, giving the Chargers a 23-17 victory. Sproles finished the day with 328 yard in total, that was third most in history only behind Ed Podolak and Keith Lincoln. Sproles accounted for 105 rushing yards, 45 receiving yards, 106 kick return yards, and 72 punts yards. So much for missing Michael Turner huh? The Chargers were the brunt of many jokes among NFL fans for letting Michael Turner the teams second string running back to go off to Atlanta in free agency. Turner tore up the NFC and helped lead the Falcons back to the playoffs. What many people didn't realize was that San Diego had another talented back in Sproles who was just as suited to be a number two running back behind Tomlinson.

The Chargers could afford to let Turner go because they had Sproles who could back up LT and return kickoffs and punts. Sproles proved himself in this game if he hadn't done that already this season. Another player to be mentioned as a hero of this game is Charger's punter Mike Scifres. Yes that's right the punter. Scifres punted six times for an average of 52.7 yards, which included his farthest being a 67-yarder. Scifres punts were booming and they pinned the Colts back in their own territory for much of the 2nd half. This gave the Chargers a chance at a comeback. The play of Scifres on special teams was an essential part of the Chargers upset win. Peyton Manning finished the game 25-of-42 for 310 yards passing and one touchdown. This was Manning's sixth career 300-yard passing in game in the postseason. 

Peyton never seemed more furious then he did after this game as NBC's camera's caught his reaction to the Sproles touchdown, Manning looked enraged as he jogged off the field. Who could blame him? He lead his team to one of the most impressive winning streaks in club history and once again they found a way to lose a game they shouldn't have in the postseason. This scene is all to familiar to the Colts. It's a good thing they captured a Super Bowl title in the 2006 season. At least they have one championship in all of the years that they reached have reached the postseason with Manning. Peyton has done a lot for this team and come up short quite to often.

Many can complain that the NFL sudden death overtime isn't fair. I happen to agree with that opinion. Both teams should at least be given a shot in this do or die period. It shouldn't come down to who wins the coin toss most of the time because then that's just pure chance. It also didn't help that the Colts were the subject of a few controversial calls in this game. The Philip Rivers pass late in the 4th quarter that seemed like intentional grounding was not called,it helped give the Chargers a chance to tie the game in the 4th.

The other controversial call came in overtime on a third down where the Colts were called for a defensive holding that seemed a little dicey. It would be nice if the referees let the players just play the game and determine it that way, but it wouldn't be the NFL without a controversial call that helped propel a team to victory. The wide receivers in this league just have to much of an advantage. In the next few plays the Colts would commit a bad face masking penalty on a Sproles run. That would seal the Colts defeat. That was the right call. 

What may get lost in all of this is how great of a rivalry this match up has become. It has become a must watch game regardless of it being a regular or postseason game. The Chargers just always seem to find a way to beat the Colts when it counts the most. This years postseason win seems even more impressive than last years. On the other side of the coin it just seems so baffling that another team besides the Patriots could stun the Colts so many times in the playoffs. This game was another memorable one and the best game of the weekend. One would hope that this won't be the last time these two teams meet in the postseason because the story line would be even greater than before. As we move onto the divisional round this weekend there are many attractive match ups, but in San Diego they'll be singing a familiar tune all the way to Pittsburgh on Sunday. As Chris Berman would say it goes something like San Diego...................................... SUPER CHARGERS!!!!!!