Indianapolis Colts: Winning the Game but Losing Their Future?

For most of the season, the Indianapolis Colts had seemed to have their fate sealed.

They would end up with the worst record in the NFL, and thereby select first in the NFL draft, a selection they would undoubtedly use on once-in-a-lifetime quarterback prospect Andrew Luck.

Now everything has taken a turn for the worst in Indianapolis.

And why is that? Well, because they're actually winning.

By winning tonight against the playoff-bound Texans, the Colts are suddenly in position to lose the No. 1 pick that had long seemed assured to Indy.

With Indianapolis winning their last two games and St. Louis and Minnesota struggling with two wins as well, the "Suck for Luck" race has heated up when it seemed all but concluded before last Sunday.

The Rams have taken a huge step back after nearly making the playoffs last year and have been dearly bitten by the injury bug this season. The Vikings picked up Donovan McNabb in the offseason, but he could not deliver on the field, and wasn't willing to take much of a role in developing rookie QB Christian Ponder.

Now those teams have suddenly found themselves in a spot where losing is a rather good thing, though it may seem a bizarre statement.

The Colts, after surprising the Texans, are left with only one game left on their schedule. That game is against Jacksonville, which seems like a rather winnable game after tonight's performance.

The Vikings have Washington and Chicago remaining on their schedule, while St. Louis will take on the tough tasks of facing Pittsburgh and San Francisco. By looking at those slates of contests that remain, it seems completely logical that Indy could lose the top pick.

Another question to be asked is what Minnesota or St. Louis would do with the No. 1 pick if one of them was to indeed gain control of it.

St.Louis should stick with Sam Bradford at quarterback, but that certainly doesn't mean they'll just use the top pick on a different player. They would field offers from Indy (and possibly other teams) and move back a strong amount returning to them for the rights to Luck.

With Minnesota, things seem to be more questionable. Is Christian Ponder the future in Minnesota? Without the No. 1 pick, it would seem to be an obvious answer of yes.

But with the chance to snatch the first overall draft position, I can certainly see Minnesota taking Luck and trading Ponder for whatever value they can receive in return.

Somehow, some way, the Colts have taken themselves to a higher level of play that, in some ways, is inspiring. But as well as they have suddenly come together in these past two weeks, is it worth losing the future of the franchise?

The end result comes to this: The Colts could easily still pick first (and I'm sure their players won't think for a second about the draft pick), but rather go out with an intensity, competitiveness and hunger for success that they have continued to show during this trying season.

As for that No. 1 overall pick...well, it certainly is a unique situation, one that looks to go down to the very last loss.