Is it Super Bowl or bust for the Colts yet?

The Indianapolis Colts have been busy the last few years revamping their defense. But will they be Super Bowl bound this year? And if they are, is it Super Bowl or bust for this team yet?

The simple answer to this question, from a business perspective, is no. Frank Reich and Chris Ballard have been a better duo than Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano ever was. Mainly that’s been due to, in my opinion, the team’s commitment to the defense and helping Andrew Luck gain more weapons at skill positions. Eric Ebron was a prime example of this last year. Reich has brought a sense of toughness Pagano was supposed to bring but never did – to be fair, Grigson didn’t give him much to work with besides the 2012 draft picks.

If you take a look at nearly every Super Bowl winning team in the past 15-20 years they all have one thing in common: hunger for winning and an above average defense. Again, the Colts don’t need to hold teams to 3 points to win, but if they can hold them below 21 points I have faith the Colts can win the game. Frank Reich and Chris Ballard are smart for reasons other than football. They’re smart businessmen.

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Chris Ballard made it very clear they had a red line for certain players and he wasn’t going to cross that line just to sign a high-profile player. Even while they had over $100 million in cap space, the club made smart business decisions and signed our players first and looked to find steals in the draft and through good, smart signings in free agency. Justin Houston was a steal at what they got him for and he still has borderline elite pass-rushing talent. They re-signed Margus Hunt to bring back an anchor to that defensive line, and improved their defensive competition by drafting a tough man-to-man cornerback in Rock Ya-sin, a chess piece Ben Banogu, and not to mention adding competition and depth to safety with Khari Willis.

So all of this going back to the original question: is it Super Bowl or bust for this team this year? I think from a talent perspective, yes. From a business perspective yes, but from a fan perspective, no. This team has made great improvements and fans would love for them to make it to the Super Bowl, but I think they’re still one or two pieces away from a great run. However, I’m not saying I don’t think this team can win a Super Bowl.

The Colts have made the right decisions from a team and business view to make a good run, but fans should temper our expectations and not put too much pressure on the team. One great thing the Colts did this year was adding depth and competition through the draft and competition always makes a team and individual players better. A Super Bowl is hard to win, let alone win multiple in a decade, and it’s “deflating” if you get into the playoffs and lose. The Colts have had a dry spell and have been to the playoffs for many years, but let’s all remember the Colts have had 12 winning seasons in the past 15 with 2 Super Bowl appearances and 1 win while also posting some of the best offensive numbers in league history.

Just remember, it can always be worse.