Indianapolis Colts: Playoffs?!?! PLAYOFFS?!?!

The Colts started the '08-'09 season poorly.

Three wins and four losses for a Super Bowl contender is not positive.

Some blame it on Peyton Manning's injuries. Some blame it on being rusty. Whatever the excuse, the Colts did not look good.

They looked terrible in the opener against the Bears. They looked equally bad in a win against Minnesota.

After losing to Jacksonville and barely beating a mediocre Texans team, Indy looked like a team that didn't deserve the playoffs.

Then, Week 6 came around and the Colts pummeled a good Ravens team, helped by Joe Flacco's three interceptions. But for the first time all season, the offense and defense showed up in the same game.

Weeks Seven and Eight brought two more losses to the Colts.

Now, they were sitting at 3-4 almost at the half way point in the season.

Then, all of a sudden something clicked.

Maybe it was Peyton Manning being fully healthy.

Maybe it was the return of Bob Sanders.

Who really knows what happened, but it happened.

A 5-2 New England team came to town and the Colts won a "rivalry" game. Followed this week by traveling to a 6-2 Pittsburgh team and bringing home another W.

Currently, the Indianapolis Colts are sitting at five wins and four losses.

How then do I say they are a playoff team?

Let's look at their remaining schedule:

Houston Texans  3-6 (the Colts have already beaten them once this season)
San Diego 4-5 (San Diego has been inconsistent at best)
Cleveland 3-6 (Barring another Derek Anderson miracle game like he had against the Giants, this should be an easy win)
Cincinnati 1-8 (The only team worse than the Bengals is...)
Detroit 0-9 (Seriously, who could ask for a better schedule?)
Jacksonville 4-5 (The Colts will probably need a W here to cement a playoff position)
Tennessee 9-0 (A possible perfect season spoiler?)

Let's take a quick look at this. I'm seeing FIVE more wins in a row.

The Colts should be 10-4 going to Jacksonville.

Even if the Colts lose to the Jags and Titans, that puts them at 10-6.

If we are looking at wild-card scenarios, the Colts have won heads-up against Pittsburgh, New England, and Baltimore.

Everything seems to be falling in place for Indy to make another playoff appearance.