Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldcolt
As an aside that 1988 trade was made by none other than Jim Irsay, in his stint as GM. Man, those were depressing times.
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o
While that that 1988 trade was awful, those times actually encompassed the franchise's first interval of respectability since their move from Baltimore in 1984.
In the Colts' first 3 seasons in Indianapolis from 1984 through 1986, they were the laughingstock of the NFL ...... their final records in those 3 seasons were 4-12, 5-11, and 3-13, respectively.
In October of 1987, Jim Irsay pulled off a blockbuster trade for Eric Dickerson to immediately give the franchise respectability, and a much-needed shot in the arm......with the best running back in the game on board, the Colts immediately won the AFC East in 1987 with a record of 9-6 (they only played 15 games that season), and followed that up with a winning season in 1988 (9-7), and a .500 season in 1989 (8-8.) At that time, the notion of the Indianapolis Colts having 3 consecutive non-losing seasons was unheard of, as that had not happened since their days in Baltimore from 1975 through 1977.
After bottoming out in 1991 with a record of 1-15 after Dickerson was passed his prime, the Colts attained a similar 3-year run of respectability when Jim Harbaugh came on board as the starting quarterback ....... they went 8-8 in 1994, 9-7 in 1995, and 9-7 in 1996 while twice qualifying for the playoffs as a Wildcard.
It wasn't until the Peyton Manning era that the Indianapolis version of the Colts had a long and sustained period of success as a perennial contender.
o