Bill Polian Throwing His Players Under The Bus: Shameful or Genius?

After a Super Bowl loss, there are way more questions than answers.

Did the Colts suffer as a result of pulling their starters in Week 16, as many (myself included) thought they would? No.

Was Peyton Manning's interception the lone play that cost them the game? Not by a longshot (although it was, undeniably, the final nail in the coffin).

So, then, who's to blame for Indy's loss to the underdog Saints?

Polian talked to the team's official website on Wednesday, and he blamed the offensive line and special teams for the loss.

He said, "Our offensive line, by our standards, did not have a good game. They were outplayed by the Saints’ defensive line. Our special teams, in terms of handling the ball—both in the return game and on the onside kick—were outplayed by the Saints. Therein lies the result."

As the president of a team, shouldn't Polian be held to a higher level of accountability than to simply throw his players under the bus?

Not only that, but he's flat wrong.

If he knows the first thing about football (which clearly he does), he knows that the loss was no fault of the offensive line. In fact, both commentators observed that the offensive lines of both teams were getting wonderful protection.

Manning was sacked a grand total of zero times all night and was only hurried or hit on a few throws.

On the interception throw, when the Saints brought six rushers, Manning's quick throw wasn't a result of pressure. The Colts' line did an admirable job of blocking the blitz. There wasn't a pass rusher within three yards of Manning when he threw the ball.

Even in the running game, the stats don't lie. The Colts gained over five yards per carry as a team. Starter Joseph Addai had close to six.

Either Polian TiVo'd the wrong game, or he was simply searching for someone to scapegoat besides his wunderkind, Peyton Manning.

Ay, there's the rub.

Perhaps Polian didn't throw the offensive line under the bus without reason, but simply asked them to do what they're paid to do—protect the quarterback.

Only this time, not from a group of defensive players hungry for a sack.

No, from a beast far more tenacious, but less physically harmful, than that—the media.

Manning has suffered more media scrutiny in a three-day span than Janet Jackson did in a week after Super Bowl XXXIX. (And she showed her boob for publicity, far more shameful than an interception.)

At least Manning's Super Bowl faux pas was a mistake.

So, this could be a clever diversion from the wrongful Manning-and-only-Manning blame.

But maybe that's not all Polian was out to do. Maybe he wanted to waive the blame from head coach Jim Caldwell, as well.

In fact, he almost said that much when he said, "(The Super Bowl XLIV loss) had nothing to do with strategy or preparedness or toughness or effort."

But this all leads back to the question: Who, or what, was to blame for the Colts blowing a 10-point, first quarter lead?

Certainly, it would be easy to point to the onside kick, as Polian also did. He blamed the special teams group for their inability to "execute" on that play. How could that play be about execution, though, when no one knew it was coming?

It's not as though anyone told Hank Baskett, "Hey, they're gonna onside kick it here. You'd better be ready to execute and recover that ball."

No. The Colts' special teams has been their weakness for quite some time, and they got beat up all night. Kick returner Courtney Roby gave the Saints good field position on nearly all of his four returns, amassing a 25.5-yard average per return with a long of 34 yards.

But that's not all the good field position he gave his team; covering a first-quarter punt, he laid a jackhammer on Colts punt returner T.J. Rushing just a fraction of a second after Rushing caught the ball.

The bottom line of Sunday's game is that, overall, the Colts were outplayed, out-coached, and outsmarted by the Saints.

Sean Payton coached to win. Jim Caldwell coached not to lose.

Though the blame for the loss shouldn't have rested solely on Manning or Caldwell in the first place, Bill Polian's diversion tactic has worked for the time being.

Why did they lose? It doesn't matter specifically.

All that matters is that on Sunday, February 7, 2010, the Saints were a better team than the Colts for 60 minutes of football.

Because of that, the Saints got a nice parade...well, they would have gotten the parade anyway.