What Does the Indianapolis Colts' Win Mean for the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes?

In what was one of the most unusual weekends so far this NFL season, the Indianapolis Colts were able to pull out a victory over division rival the Tennessee Titans.

This win saves the Colts from being planted in the record books with an 0-16 season and may have prevented head coach Jim Caldwell from losing his job. While it is certainly a relief for Caldwell and the Colts organization to get their first win, it makes the NFL draft picture a little cloudier. 

For weeks everyone has been assuming that the Colts would have the first overall pick in this year's NFL draft. With that pick, most were speculating that they would draft Stanford's quarterback Andrew Luck as the successor to Peyton Manning. 

Article after article poured debating whether the Colts should trade Manning and keep Luck or possibly skip out on drafting Luck at all. With so much media coverage for the topic, it was like it was already set in stone.

Now the picture is much different. 

Indianapolis is still in line for the first overall pick. However, the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota Vikings are sitting at two wins each and not getting any better. 

The Colts have two winnable games left on their schedule. The Houston Texans come to town Week 16 coming off a tough loss to the Carolina Panthers. It appears that Matt Schaub's injury is finally catching up to them. 

The game will still be a difficult one for the Colts to win, but it is entirely possible. Then Week 17, the Colts will travel to Jacksonville to face off against the Jaguars. Jacksonville is 4-10 on the season and certainly nothing special.

It is very possible that the Colts could finish their year at 3-13, losing the coveted first overall pick. 

While this may seem like grim news for Colts fans hoping to see Andrew Luck in blue and white next year, don't panic quite yet. Even if the Colts fell to third in the draft, they may still have a chance at Luck.

The St. Louis Rams have tons of money invested in Sam Bradford. While he had a down year this season, he is clearly talented. The Rams have much more pressing needs that could in turn help Bradford improve.

The Minnesota Vikings just drafted Christian Ponder in last year's draft with the 12th overall pick. Obviously they don't have as much money invested as the Rams do in Bradford, but it would be far too early to go and draft another first-round quarterback. The Vikings defense has too many holes to fill for them to commit to another quarterback. 

It is clear that the Colts would be the most in need and most likely to take Luck of the three teams. The only real danger for the Colts would be someone trading up with one of those two teams to grab Luck for themselves. This is a risk that Indianapolis will just have to live with. 

While Andrew Luck seems like a sure fire prospect, there are plenty of other quality quarterbacks coming out this year. Matt Barkley from USC is highly touted by several scouts and Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III is talked about as the next dual-threat passer. Not to mention the other quality quarterbacks that will go later in the first round and early second.

As for now, this is completely hypothetical. The Colts will likely be the underdogs in both of their final two games and could very well lose out going 1-15. There may be nothing standing in their way of drafting Andrew Luck other than the media storm that will come with it.

However, if they manage to end the year strong, Colts fans should prepare for the possibility of Andrew Luck wearing a different uniform come next year.