For the last decade, the Indianapolis Colts have been trapped in one of the darkest eras in franchise history. The team hasn’t won a division title since 2014 and, in that time, has only managed four seasons with a winning record, two playoff appearances, and a single postseason victory.
Incredibly, Indianapolis has another unfortunate streak that stretches even farther back than 2014. The Colts have gone 11 consecutive years without winning their regular season opener, which is more than twice as long as any other team in the NFL. This drought has outlasted countless players, coaches, and executives.
This year, the Colts will have an opportunity to break their Week 1 curse when they face the Miami Dolphins. According to many oddsmakers, the matchup is basically a toss-up, meaning Indianapolis has a fighting chance, but it won’t be easy.
Indianapolis Colts have zero Week 1 wins in the last 11 years
Speaking of odds, the Colts have defied them by continuously finding ways to fall short in their season openers. Their improbable 11-year streak is indicative of the Colts’ general dysfunction, as well as some plain bad luck. Besides Indy, the second-longest Week 1 drought belongs to the Tennessee Titans, another team not known for its consistency and success.
Indianapolis has somehow not tasted victory in Week 1 since 2013, which was Andrew Luck’s second NFL season. For context, that was also the same year that Disney’s Frozen and Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” were massive hits.
In that game, Luck had a measly 178 passing yards and two passing touchdowns — one to Reggie Wayne and another to Dwayne Allen. Luck added a 19-yard game-winning touchdown run in the fourth quarter to squeak past the Oakland Raiders 21-17.
The Luck era in Indianapolis had some promising moments, but the 2012 No. 1 overall pick’s Week 1 record was rough to say the least. After 2013, Luck couldn’t carry the Colts to a season-opening win again in his career. Of course, it wasn’t exactly Luck’s fault.
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Now the general manager of Stanford’s football program, Luck threw for 370 yards against Denver in 2014, generated over 400 yards of total offense and four touchdowns against Detroit in 2016, and completed a career-high 39 passes against Cincinnati in 2018. But he just didn’t have a good enough supporting cast to seal the deal.
The Colts’ situation got even worse after Luck’s shock retirement in 2019. What followed was a ridiculous quarterback carousel where Indianapolis had five different Week 1 starters in six years — and yet the outcome was always the same. Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, and Anthony Richardson (twice) all had a chance to end the streak and failed.
In fairness, Atlanta legend Ryan deserves some credit for being the closest to breaking this abysmal curse. Ryan’s performance — along with Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman, Jr. — in the 2022 opener nearly led Indy to a win. However, misfortune struck again when Rodrigo Blankenship missed a 42-yard field goal attempt in overtime, and the game ended in a rare tie.
In 2025, yet another new starting QB will take the field for the Colts. Daniel Jones has only one Week 1 win in six NFL seasons, so the former Giants first-rounder has been somewhat cursed himself. But Jones came to Indianapolis to turn around his career. Beating Miami would be a huge momentum-booster and the perfect way to start his time in Indy.
A team’s Week 1 matchup isn’t like other games on the schedule. It's an opportunity to begin the campaign on a positive note and set the tone for the rest of the year.
According to RotoWire, the data suggests that teams that start 1-0 are way more likely to succeed. In a pivotal year with multiple jobs potentially on the line, it would go a long way if Jones and Indianapolis could kick off the season with a bang.