Shocking 'Captain Andrew Luck' cameo adds Colts flavor to Thursday Night Football

Celebrated Indianapolis Colts QB -- and veritable hermit -- Andrew Luck made a return to the football field Thursday night, with the TNF broadcast crew landing on his new home turf in the Bay Area.

As everyone expected, he made that return wearing a Civil War general's uniform.

Finally paying off a terminally-online joke from 2012, Luck made a rare public appearance on Thursday night in full Union regalia, choosing to play along with the Thursday Night Football postgame crew out of literally nowhere.

When asked how he was doing, an affable Luck greeted the panel with, "The war is over." Clearly, retirement is treating him well.

Colts QB returns to national NFL broadcast as Captain Andrew Luck

After the initial interview, Luck continued on air, perhaps saying the most words he ever has in public in one fell swoop. He played a round of postgame trivia with the hosts, humbly nailing a question about LA's Getty Center, all while feigning ignorance. Come on, Andrew. We know you're smart.

The only way this appearance could've been any more fruitful for Colts fans is if Luck had dared to comment on Chris Ballard claiming his ex-QB's NFL career proved that nobody needs a stalwart running back to survive in this league. It would've been nice to hear Luck raise his musket, aim it at the sky and cry, "Nay! For I would've played nigh a decade if I'd been provided with Christian McCaffrey rations. Perhaps a decade and a half, if I'd had the proper munitions!"

Who knows when the Captain will resurface, but Luck himself made the College Football Hall of Fame in 2022 and Stanford's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023. He seems to be gravitating back to the game, which could really use a mind like his to focus on the future of player safety and rule shifts, a la Theo Epstein in MLB. A kind soul with a sense of humor who knows the ins and outs of the game (because he lived it). Did somebody say ... old-timey Commish?