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Colts Are One of Leaders in NFL for Most ‘Bang for Buck’

By Luke Schultheis

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According to a study conducted by NerdWallet, the Indianapolis Colts are the 2nd most cost efficient team in the NFL behind the New England Patriots, as well as the 6th best overall combined in the MLB, NBA, and NFL.

The study took into account the last 15 years and factored in win-loss data, as well as winning championships. Per Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star, it was very much a systematic approach:

"“The analysis was complicated,” writes Benbow. “NerdWallet counted regular season victories over the past 15 years, then factored in whether each team had won any championships. This created an adjusted wins total for each franchise.”“Now comes the math,” added Benbow. “NerdWallet divided each team’s share of the league’s adjusted wins by the team’s share of the league’s total payroll. This gave a payroll efficiency index with an average score of 1. The more financially efficient a team was, the higher the index number.”“The Colts scored a 1.45,” noted Benbow. “The Patriots, the most financially efficient team of all, scored a 2.06. Comparatively, the lowest team overall, the New York Knicks, scored a 0.56.”"

Of course, clearly helping the Colts cause, is the fact that they’ve had two elite franchise quarterbacks in 14 of the past 15 seasons in Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, the only exception being in 2011 where Curtis Painter led the league’s worst team. Such elite quarterback play has clearly helped the Colts winning ways.

While the team has only one Super Bowl Championship to show for it in 2006, the Colts have only missed the playoffs twice in the past 15 years in 2001 under head coach Jim Mora and then again in 2011 during the aforementioned “Curtis Painter era” of Colts football. From 1999-2014, the team has accumulated a regular season win-loss record of 173-83 (.676), which is a pretty impressive feat to say the least.

As such, the Colts have clearly been one of the winningest teams of the past 15 years, and whether it’s due to smart spending or elite quarterback play simply carrying them, the computation shows that the team has gotten among the most “bang for their buck”.

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