Indianapolis Colts and NBC's the Office: It's Time to Say Goodbye

The only thing worse than the Indianapolis Colts performance so far this season has been the 8th season of NBC’s acclaimed television show "The Office." After watching last week’s episode, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the two.

We all knew that when NBC announced that Michael Scott wasn’t coming back as the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch that the show wouldn’t be nearly as good. Even as the show had dropped off the last few years, I couldn’t imagine it ever being as bad as it is right now.

When the Colts announced that Peyton Manning was going to be out for an extended period of time, we all knew the Colts wouldn’t be as good without him, but as bad as they have been? I couldn’t have imagined that either.

The Colts look completely dreadful. They are playing without a purpose and The Office seems to be doing exactly the same thing, they are just going through the motions without their long-time leader.

Peyton Manning appears to be the Michael Scott of the Indianapolis Colts, it is easy to see now as it only took a few weeks for both the Colts and The Office, that without their main character neither of them are watchable. Now both look like their headed toward the end of an era.

The similarities don’t stop there however, even the characters look identical.

Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark are the Jim and Pam Halpert of the Colts. Jim and Pam just aren’t the same without Michael Scott (or really since they became engaged.)

When Scott was acting like an idiot, these two were the sane part of the group, the ones that help bring everything together. Without that dynamic of their leader there is no one to make them useful. Without Manning, Reggie Wayne has one touchdown through eight games and Dallas Clark has thrown more key blocks than he has catches, and that’s not a compliment.

Andy Bernard is Pierre Garcon. Bernard now has an expanded role without Scott, and he is doing an adequate job—still funny at times—but he just doesn’t seem like himself.

Just like Andy, Garcon has more air time, but it’s not helping anyone (other than his fantasy owners.) While both are performing well, is Garcon a No. 1 receiver on a winning team? Is Andy Bernard a lead character on any successful show? Both are great as a No. 2 guy, but not as a lead.

Dwight Freeney is the Dwight (of course) Schrute of the Colts. He is still performing at the same high-level, but his performances are lost among the overall poorness of the team.

Kerry Collins is the Robert California of the team. In what seemed like a good idea by bringing in a veteran, it wasn’t and hasn’t been and both acts got old real quick.

Everyone else falls under the running game, offensive line and remaining defense, they’re important, but they are not going to carry this team or any episode.

Looking back, both the Colts and The Office had great runs since Peyton Manning and Michael Scott made their first appearance.

The Colts won at least ten games for nine straight seasons, won seven AFC South division titles, and had their best player win the NFL MVP four times while making it to two Super Bowls. The Colts hit their peak with a Super Bowl season in 2006.

The Office was NBC’s top show for several years becoming a stalwart of Thursday night television for which they received numerous awards over the course of the series. Including winning an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in…yep, 2006.

The Colts and The Office both had that defining moment when you knew that things would be turning for the worse.

For the Colts, when they lost that onside kickoff followed by the pick-six in their Super Bowl loss to the New Orleans Saints, you kind of felt that things would never really be the same in Indy. Now with Manning hurt and watching how they perform without him that may be it for this Colts team as we know them.

For the Office, the same feeling was felt as soon as the wedding episode aired and Jim and Pam were married. If it hadn’t already, you knew the Office was going to change for the worse.

The similarities are there and the solution to both is the same, it’s time to goodbye and move on.

If the Colts are Luck(y) enough to be in position to draft Andrew Luck I say do it. As hard as it would be to trade Peyton Manning (just like it was saying goodbye to Michael Scott for everyone in The Office) for everything he has done for the franchise they would be wise to do so to get a plethora of picks.

If Peyton comes back fully healthy and the Colts knowing that Carson Palmer garnered possibly two first round picks imagine what Manning could bring in. They could use those picks to rebuild that defense, plus after watching the Colts this year, even if Peyton came back healthy would that make them contenders?

Just like Michael Scott is probably doing fine in Colorado with his new fiancé Holly Flax, Manning should be just fine elsewhere. Perhaps a team like the San Francisco 49ers might offer up picks for him.

As we get set to say goodbye to both eras, for the Office as it’s just not funny anymore things look about over for the show and the sooner you let go (if you haven’t already) the better.

However, for the Colts, if they are able to land Luck and rebuild their defense, it’ll be sooner than you think before they are back on top.

That’s what she said.