Colts fans seething about decision

Colts coach Jim Caldwell will not second-guess the decision to rest his starters Sunday.

He'll let everybody else do it for him.

One day after Indianapolis pulled the plug on its perfect season by sitting Peyton Manning and others with 5:36 left in the third quarter of a 15-10 game, the great debate raged in Indianapolis.

NFL purists expressed disappointment that the Colts sidestepped their shot at perfection. Other analysts suggested the Colts had an obligation to play it straight, and hometown fans expressed their anger with strong critiques on local radio shows.

None of it fazed Caldwell.

"I'm one of those guys, it's probably my greatest strength and my greatest weakness, I can focus in, I can narrow my scope, and once you make a decision you have to live with it," he said. "Certainly you weigh all the options before. You take a look at all the things that could occur, but once that decision is done you just keep moving."

Indy fans aren't ready to move on just yet.

After celebrating record after record during an unprecedented 23-game winning streak and feeling like they had a personal stake in the pursuit of perfection, they showered Lucas Oil Stadium with boos over the final 20 minutes Sunday. Pro Bowl receiver Reggie Wayne joked to a local television station that Indy might be the first 14-1 team to get booed at home.

In time, fans will likely calm down, and if the Colts win the Super Bowl, all will be forgiven.

"Ultimately, what matters the most is what happens in the postseason," Denver coach Josh McDaniels said. "So, I think their season is going to be determined by what they do once the playoffs start, not what happened yesterday."

Callers to radio shows repeatedly questioned Indy's tack. Some asked for refunds. One fan said the team "spit in our face." One talk show host read an e-mail on the air that said the Colts didn't lose Sunday's game, they forfeited it, and many brought up the Colts' previous postseason failures.

In three of the last four years, Indianapolis has not won a playoff game. The other time, the Colts won the Lombardi Trophy.