It Goes to Plan for Colts

First the New York Jets lost. Then it all turned exactly the way the Indianapolis Colts had planned.

The Colts rolled through the Minnesota defense and held the high-powered Viking offense in check in getting a playoff berth for the second year in a row with a 31-10 victory Sunday.

“It would have been easy to give up,” Colt quarterback Peyton Manning said. “But everybody kept saying we have a chance, and that’s all you want is a chance. And now that you’re in it, no one remembers how you got there.”

Indianapolis (10-6) plays at Miami next Saturday, but only three weeks ago, any playoff date seemed implausible.

But the Colts strung together victories over Buffalo, Miami and to stave off elimination, and watched the Jets lose three consecutive games--the last coming shortly after the Colts started Sunday. That meant all Indianapolis needed was a victory over Minnesota.

“After we got beat by New York up there, we never stopped believing,” Manning said. “But we were really down. We knew what the facts were; we had to win three games and had to have some other things happen.”

The scenario played right into the Colts’ hands, and they got one of their finest all-around performances this season.

Manning threw for a career-high four touchdowns and 283 yards as he broke Johnny Unitas’ 41-year-old club record for touchdown passes in a season. Manning finished with 33, one more than Unitas had in 1959, to lead the NFL.

Edgerrin James rushed for 128 yards, accounted for 207 total yards and scored one touchdown to set an NFL record for touchdowns by a player in his first two seasons. James also broke Eric Dickerson’s single-season club record for yards rushing and Marshall Faulk’s single-season club record for total yards. He won the NFL rushing title with 1,709 yards and finished with 2,303 total yards.

Marvin Harrison also played a major role. He caught 12 passes for 109 yards and three touchdowns, his first 100-yard performance in eight weeks, and finished with 102 receptions, the most in the NFL.

The defense played just as superbly in a game that was meaningless to the Vikings (11-5)--losers of three in row.

After Tampa Bay and New Orleans both lost, Minnesota had clinched both the NFC Central title and a bye in the first round, but quarterback Daunte Culpepper-- hobbled by an ankle injury--still started. After three series, he was knocked out of the game and the Vikings finished with 236 total yards--the first time they gained fewer than 300 in 32 games.