Curtis Painter May Be Indianapolis Colts' Starting QB, but Does It Matter?

It's not official yet, but all signs are pointing to Curtis Painter as the Colts starting quarterback for Monday Night Football.

The Colts themselves have this shrouded with the cop-out slogan "situation to be determined."

That's where things have fallen for this one-time flagship of the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts.

Those four words pretty much sum up what this entire season may be for Indy:

"Situation to be determined."

They pretty much sum up what's going on with all this Peyton Manning nonsense:

"Situation to be determined."

These Colts find themselves in quite a situation. When you really think about it and how it's going to play out for the rest of the year, it certainly is "to be determined."

What has been determined is the need for yet another quarterback, and to that end the Colts signed the greatness that is Dan Orlovsky. Bet that has 'em excited as all out in the Indy sports bars. Yeah, Dan the Man!

Adding to the "situation" in Indy, Kerry Collins didn't practice Thursday. He was knocked out of the Pittsburgh game and the team described his "situation" as "symptoms related to a possible concussion."

The fact that Collins didn't practice may be a result of him not getting through the new "concussion protocol," which is stricter than ever this year.

"Right now Kerry is still healing and still recovering a little" is how Colts coach Jim Caldwell described "the situation." "He will not practice this afternoon. We're not quite certain what his status will be here tomorrow or late this afternoon. If he cannot go, obviously Curtis will."

The "Curtis" Caldwell spoke of is Curtis Painter, who is listed third on the Colts' outdated depth chart. Their site still shows Peyton Manning as the starter, Collins the backup and Painter No. 3.

Quite the "situation," isn't it?

You've got Painter maybe getting his first NFL start on Monday Night Football on the road in Tampa, with Raheem Morris' young but talented defense drooling all over itself at the thought of going after a Colts quarterback whose first name is not Peyton.

Morris calls his young guys "youngry." It's one of those Raheemisms, you know—young and hungry.

Morris also has his "wolfs" and that certainly has to be disconcerting to a newbie. No one told Painter there might be "wolfs" on the field.

That about sizes it up for now for these Colts.

Fact is they've got themselves in a "situation" for sure, and there's a lot "to be determined."

But one thing's for sure: This former NFL flagship is looking more like a rowboat.

These Colts will go to Tampa 0-3. And that's very row boatish.