Associated Press
Colts quarterback Peyton Manning walks off the field in Miami after losing to New Orleans 31-17 Sunday.
SUPER BOWL XLIV 31 17 Saints Colts
Super letdown
Colts unable to overcome late interception
Justin A. Cohn | The Journal GazetteMIAMI –
All that talk of a Colts dynasty will have to wait.
A Super Bowl that began with so much promise for the Colts ended with a 31-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
“It’s disappointing because we set out on this mission to become Super Bowl champions, and we fell one game short,” Colts cornerback Kelvin Hayden said. “We just fall in the pile with the rest of the teams. We didn’t finish the task. This isn’t to take anything away from this season. We had a great season as a team. We fought through adversity week in and week out. We had a great year.”
For the city of New Orleans, which rallied around the Saints (16-3) after Hurricane Katrina, it was pandemonium. The Saints had never been to a Super Bowl and were deemed underdogs against NFL MVP Peyton Manning and the Colts.
“Eighty-five percent of the city was underwater after Katrina,” said quarterback Drew Brees, a former Purdue standout who was selected Super Bowl MVP after completing 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.
“Residents were evacuated all over the city. Who knew that the organization would even come back? Not only did the organization come back, but we had so many players look at each other and say, ‘We’re going to rebuild together. We’re going to lean on each other.’ This is the culmination of all that faith.”
The Colts (16-3), who hadn’t lost a game with their first-team players on the field, thrived on fourth-quarter comebacks this season. They had a record seven in the regular season.
But former Indiana University standout Tracy Porter intercepted a Manning pass and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown to complete the scoring late in the fourth quarter and end the Colts’ chance to rally.
The Colts, who won a Super Bowl after the 2006 season and won a record 115 games this past decade, had hoped that a victory in front of 74,059 fans would cement their status as a dynasty.
Instead, they squandered an early 10-0 lead and must regroup.
“On behalf of the Colts and our team, we’re very disappointed and we’re sorry to our fans,” said Manning, who grew up in New Orleans and whose father, Archie, played for the Saints.
“I’m sorry to our fans that we weren’t able to get it done.”