Impossible to Deny Indianapolis Colts' Progress After Win in Denver

As soon as the Indianapolis Colts finished with their 26-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, a question began circling among Colts fans and local media.

See, the Colts were heavy underdogs in Denver, and for good reason. 

The Denver Broncos were a better team over the course of the season—better at passing, running, stopping the run and stopping the pass. Outside of special teams, the Broncos stacked up better in their season-long production.

So even though the Colts always had a chance to win in Denver, there was a bit of a foreboding presence around this game. 

And so, the inevitable question started to be whispered around: If the Colts lost to Denver, was the season a success? Was a loss in the divisional round of the playoffs, the same round they lost in last season, acceptable? Or did we need to see more from the Colts and from Andrew Luck? 

There were a variety of answers. 

Some felt that the Colts needed to take the next step forward, that playoff wins were the measuring stick. Chuck Pagano said after the win that the team felt like it needed to take that step, via the Colts' team website.

Some felt that Luck needed to win this game in order to meet some lofty, vague expectations about his aptitude for buzzwords like "clutch" and "elite." The playoffs, after all, are where all the great quarterbacks win. Quarterbacks who lose in the playoffs are merely an aberration, stat hounds who aren't real winners.

In reality, it was never in doubt that this season was a success for the Indianapolis Colts, Ryan Grigson, Chuck Pagano and the rest of the staff. 

The Colts, quite simply, were better this season than they were in 2013. 

Year	Off. Yards/Game (rank)	Off. Pts/Game	Def. Yds/Game	Def. Pts/Game	Total DVOA
2012	362.4 (10)	22.3 (18)	374.3 (26)	24.2 (21)	-16.0% (25)
2013	341.8 (15)	24.4 (14)	357.1 (20)	21.0 (9)	3.2% (13)
2014	406.6 (3)	28.6 (6)	342.7 (11)	23.1 (19)	4.7% (12)

They were better on offense. 

Despite some late-season skids and turnover streaks that made the final numbers look less than impressive, the Colts were a top-10 offense all season long and flirted with the top five amid their midseason highs. By total yards, they were one of the top teams in the league all year and finished third. While total yards isn't an accurate measure of offensive performance, a 12-place jump is incredibly significant. 

It started, of course, with Andrew Luck, who took the team's offense on his back and simply threw for a league-leading 40 touchdowns and over 4,700 yards. Sure, Luck wasn't perfect, and some of his turnovers kept the Colts from being as efficient of an offense as possible, but he continued to move closer to that upper echelon of quarterbacks that analysts believe he can reach. 

But it wasn't just Luck getting better offensively. It was T.Y. Hilton taking the next step and becoming a No. 1 receiver. It was rookie Donte Moncrief coming in and contributing and Hakeem Nicks overcoming a slow start to the season to make some key postseason catches. It was Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener staying relatively healthy as a pair and combining for over 1,100 yards and 16 touchdown passes. 

It was Anthony Castonzo anchoring the offensive line that improved for the second consecutive season. Castonzo became one of the league's better left tackles this season, and the upgrades went right down the line. Left guard Jack Mewhort had a solid rookie season, while second-year center Khaled Holmes won the center job by the end of the season.

The right-side pairing of Lance Louis and Joe Reitz is an odd one, a veteran couple marked by experience in a few different places, but it's one that has worked wonders in the postseason. 

The Colts were also better on defense. 

With Robert Mathis out for the season, the Colts needed to figure out some way to get pass rush. 

While they weren't as dangerous without the 2013 league sack leader, the Colts coaches still figured out a way to get a top-10 adjusted sack rate from Football Outsiders. They got contributions from all over, including rookie outside linebacker Jonathan Newsome, who led the team with 6.5 sacks in the regular season and got a critical sack-fumble against Denver.

The secondary improved, as Vontae Davis took on his role as a true No. 1 corner and Greg Toler stayed healthy for an entire season. Meanwhile, Mike Adams filled in phenomenally at safety, and LaRon Landry's ineffectiveness was periodically spelled by surprisingly solid play from Sergio Brown. 

Finally, the Colts were better on special teams. 

Pat McAfee and Adam Vinatieri had two of the best seasons of their careers, and the Colts' investment in special teams paid off with one of the best units in the NFL. 

No, there was no question that this season was a success. The 2014 Colts team was better than the 2013 team, which was better than the 2012 team. Say what you will about Grigson and his staff, but they have made the team better in each season, and that's not debatable. 

But that was never going to be enough for some people. 

"Winning is in the franchise's DNA," is how Luck put it after the game, per the Colts' team website. "There were high expectations as soon as I walked in the door."

Fans have gotten used to a certain standard of winning, of being in contention, and for some, the only way to measure the season is by the number of playoff wins. 

But you know what? It doesn't matter. We don't have to have that discussion, that argument. 

We don't have to argue about whether Andrew Luck can win a big playoff game on the road and how absurd that narrative would be just three years into his career. Yeah, he answered that emphatically with another standout game in which he completely controlled the game from an offensive standpoint, keeping the Broncos off the field while scoring at an efficient rate of 2.2 points per drive. 

We don't have to have a discussion about whether the Colts coaches have succeeded, despite getting the team to the playoffs in three consecutive years and winning two divisional titles. Yeah, they answered that criticism with a perfect game plan against Peyton Manning, some key personnel moves and a well-called game offensively, aside from a few minor hiccups. 

We don't have to ask whether Grigson had a successful season, even though the team has clearly improved without going into cap hell. Yeah, he answered that with some key free agents and rookies playing key roles in the Colts' deepest playoff run since the 2009 season. Jonathan Newsome, Donte Moncrief, Jack Mewhort, Erik Walden, Greg Toler. Just the tip of the iceberg.

With one 24-13 win, the Colts took all those silly narratives and buried them. Deep. 

For that, we thank them. 

No logical person wanted to have to defend the Colts and their season after making it to the divisional round of the playoffs and being one of the final eight teams left in football. 

Now we don't have to. Because like it or not, this win speaks for itself.