The Indianapolis Colts will have to make several key moves this offseason if they want to contend for next year’s Super Bowl.
The 2021 NFL season is officially over and the Indianapolis Colts weren’t named Super Bowl Champions. The game is played to win championships, so all but one team fell short of the ultimate goal.
In the middle of the season, Indianapolis looked as if they had a chance to hoist the Lombardi trophy, but an epic collapse prevented them from even seeing the playoffs.
While Indy could’ve made the postseason with a better finish to the year, the team learned that they didn’t have everything necessary to compete for a championship just yet.
But they aren’t that many pieces away. The Colts have a strong run game, a solid defense, good coaching, and have demonstrated the ability to win tough games.
They will just need to add a few pieces this offseason and Indianapolis will be ready to compete for a Super Bowl. Here are four things the Colts need to do so that they are playing in next year’s Super Bowl.
Colts must upgrade at left tackle
In the opening monologue of the 2009 film, The Blind Side, Sandra Bullock marvelously highlighted the importance of a left tackle.
Some of her words were, “the first check you write is for the mortgage, but the second is for the insurance. And the left tackle’s job is to protect the quarterback from what he can’t see coming. To protect his blind side.”
This analogy was used to articulate: the quarterback may be the most important player and highest-paid on the majority of teams, but the left tackle is a close second, due to his responsibility of protecting the quarterback.
Well, Indianapolis has not properly invested in the left tackle position and until it does, the quarterback’s ceiling will always be lowered.
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The Colts experimented with veteran tackle, Eric Fisher, and despite him being a good run-blocker, he struggled in pass protection. With Fisher now a free agent, Indy must go out and spend money on a quality left tackle.
If Indy doesn’t do that, its path to the Super Bowl will be especially tough.