Colts’ loss means so much to many

So which group of interested onlookers was more excited about the Indianapolis Colts’ 21-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday?

Members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins?

Or fans of the 2006 Colts?

Indianapolis’ first defeat of the season was quite the crowd-pleaser, pleasing crowds in Miami (the ’72 Dolphins’ perfect record safe for another year), Dallas (the Cowboys are half a game out of first place), Baltimore (the 8-2 Ravens are back in contention for AFC home-field advantage), San Diego (ditto the 8-2 Chargers) and Indianapolis, where fans can now avoid a repeat of 2005, when the Colts started the season 13-0 and their supporters ended it in the fetal position.

In the perverse psychology of post-modern pro football, a team believes it has a better chance for success in January and February if it loses at least once in November or December. Last year, the Colts began 13-0 to threaten the ’72 Dolphins’ perfect record -- and acted as if it were the worst thing to hit the franchise since Joe Namath.

Last year, we heard it all.

Oh, the pressure of being undefeated in mid-December.

What do the football gods have against the Colts?

How can the Colts properly prepare for the playoffs if they play all their starters to make a serious run at 16-0?

Think of all the Pro Bowl players risking injury.

How can the Colts possibly win the playoffs if they don’t lose before the playoffs?

Eventually, the Colts decided to play it this way: Rest key starters in Weeks 15, 16 and 17; lose to San Diego and Seattle in Weeks 15 and 16; lose to Pittsburgh at home in their first postseason game; watch Pittsburgh win the Super Bowl championship that should’ve been, could’ve been theirs.

This is one reason why college football continues to resist the call for an NFL-style playoff tournament.

In college ball, no team wants to lose in November just to ease the tension heading into bowl season.

In college ball, 11-0 is always better than 10-1 ... unless you play for Boise State.

But in the NFL, the conventional wisdom says the Colts are better off at 9-1 than they would have been at 10-0 because ... well, because no Super Bowl champion has run the table since 1972.

So losing sometime during the regular season has to be a good thing, right?

Then again, these Colts, unlike the ’05 Colts, had been undefeated on borrowed time. The ’05 Colts were routing playoff teams in November and December before taking their foot off the pedal. The ’06 Colts were the shakiest 9-0 in recent memory -- owning one-point victories over Tennessee and Buffalo, plus three-point wins over the New York Jets and Denver.

Seven of Indianapolis’ nine victories had been decided by seven or fewer points, making a Week 11 road game against the Cowboys, who were 5-4 before kickoff, trickier than the won-lost records might have suggested.

Additionally, the Cowboys had a hot young quarterback named Tony Romo, who had been on such a tear that Terrell Owens hadn’t once yet insulted his heritage. Against the Colts, Romo held his own against Peyton Manning -- and when Dallas linebacker Kevin Burnett intercepted a Manning pass and returned it 39 yards to the end zone, the Cowboys had scored the points the Colts required to end their burdensome streak.

Regarding other notable streaks around the league:

* Brett Favre’s record streak for consecutive starts was put in jeopardy when the Green Bay quarterback injured his elbow in the first half of his 251st consecutive start. Restless Packers fans who this season cried for the streak to end and the Aaron Rodgers era to begin got a sneak preview of the future: Rodgers completed four of 12 passes for 32 yards in a little more than a half and Green Bay lost to New England, 35-0.

* Houston’s David Carr tied the league record for most consecutive completions, connecting on 22 throws in a row, and the Texans still lost to Buffalo, 24-21. Carr equaled the mark set this year by Washington’s Mark Brunell, courtesy of Carr’s defensive teammates. Houston lost that game too, 31-15.

Carr’s 22 in a row wasn’t the day’s biggest waste of quarterback production. New Orleans’ Drew Brees threw for 510 yards, the sixth-highest total in NFL history, and yet his team scored only 16 points and lost by 15. Cincinnati, receiving an economical 275 yards and three touchdown passes from Carson Palmer, beat Brees and the Saints, 31-15.

(Three Brees interceptions had something to do with it.)

Miami, on the other hand, wasted nothing in a 24-20 triumph over Minnesota.

In fact, nothing would have been an improvement over the Dolphins’ final rushing total -- minus-three yards in 14 carries.

How do you win an NFL game by rushing for minus-three yards?

When your starting quarterback is Joey Harrington?

When your opponent is not the Oakland Raiders?

Here’s one way: Have Jason Taylor and Renaldo Hill return Minnesota Vikings turnovers for touchdowns.

The Dolphins became the first team in more than four decades to win a game with so poor a rushing performance.

One year after winning the NFL title, the Philadelphia Eagles in 1961 netted minus-12 yards on the ground and still beat the Washington Redskins, 27-24.

The 2006 Eagles aren’t so lucky. Entering Week 11 at 5-4 and trading elbows with Dallas and the New York Giants for the top spot in the NFC East, Philadelphia lost its best player, quarterback Donovan McNabb, for the rest of the season, the result of a torn knee ligament suffered in the second quarter of a 31-13 loss to Tennessee.

For the third time in in five years, the Eagles will finish their regular season without McNabb in the lineup.

Which means that for the 46th time in 46 years, the Eagles will not win the league championship.

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mike.penner@latimes.com