Odds The Indianapolis Colts Go Winless 0-16 In 2011-12

As of this posting (12/3), the Indianapolis Colts are 0-11 and are five steps away from pulling off the dubious distinction of an 0-16 season. We take a moment to look at the odds the Colts finish 0-16 this year. They are +160 to pull off the bad feat, and we are set to take a look at their chances.

Indianapolis went from having one of the best passing games in the league to one of the worst. The team is averaging just 181.0 yards per game passing this year, No. 28 in the game. A lot of the problem is that QB Curtis Painter just isn’t ready to play in the NFL. He is only completing 54.3 percent of his passes with six scores against nine picks. He replaced the ineffective QB Kerry Collins, who led the team to three losses in a row before being benched and eventually put on injured reserve. Now, the ball will be turned over to QB Dan Orlovsky.

The problem with Orlovsky is that he has already had his hand in an 0-16 team, doing so with the Detroit Lions last decade. That being said, the former Connecticut Husky probably has the best chance of leading this team to a victory.

However, if you look at the schedule over the course of the next two weeks, you see a road game at the New England Patriots and a road game against the Baltimore Ravens in back to back weeks. We already know that the Pats and their potent passing game are three touchdown favorites, and especially if Indy doesn’t figure out how to cover this spread this week, it will probably be a three TD dog again next week when the Ravens come to town.

To wrap up the season, the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans pay a visit to Lucas Oil Field, and the Colts will finish up with a road game at the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Let’s look at a brief comparison between these Colts and the 2008 Lions. Orlovsky led a passing game that averaged 206 passing yards and 83.3 rushing yards per game. These Colts are basically on par with that, and they are actually scoring fewer points per game. Those Lions were averaging 16.8 points per game against the 13.6 points per game for these Colts. Defensively, Indy has the worst defense in the league at 29.7 points per game. Those Lions averaged 32.3 points per game allowed, a mark that the Colts still have plenty of time to catch up to.

There are two more factors that we have to take into consideration. The first is that Head Coach Jim Caldwell could become a lame duck coach. There are grumblings that an 0-16 season would see Caldwell get fired, which might become important for his team to put together their biggest efforts.

The second, of course, is whether the Colts try to get QB Peyton Manning back on the field or not at the end of this season. Manning has been cleared to start to practice once again, though he hasn’t made any notions that he is going to get back on the field at any point. That being said, if he does get back on the field, we will see just how important he is to this team, and he could possibly lead the squad to a victory or two.