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Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles
o
I am.
I remember the game (and the night) in which it was announced that John Lennon had been shot to death, on December 8th of 1980.
Only one day before that happened (December 7th) the Colts were robbed of a miraculous comeback against the Bengals, and were eliminated from playoff contention because of it. They were losing by a score of 31-6 in the 4th quarter when Bert Jones engineered 4 touchdowns to allow his team to take a 33-31 lead. With less than a minute to go the refs bailed out the Bengals on a horrible pass interference call, and they subsequently kicked a field goal to win by a score of 34-33.
Just one week earlier, the Colts had beaten the 1st-place Buffalo Bills to vault themselves into contention.
o
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Quote:
Originally Posted by YDFL Commish
I remember watching the MNF game when John Lennon was murdered. C&O, the Colts weren't going anywhere at that time, so I hope you weren't that disappointed.
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o
1980 and 1983 were the Colts' 2 best chances of making the postseason in the six-season losing stretch between 1978-1983. A win over the Bengals that day would have made them 8-6 with 2 games left to play. That loss took the wind out of their sails, especially with the surrounding circumstances of that unbelievable comeback being taken away from them. I believe that they would have won those last 2 games if they had gotten that exhilarating win that they earned but were robbed of, and perhaps the other contenders would have had more pressure on them to close out the season because of it.
I felt bad that because of the fact that they finished at 7-9 overall, it makes a lot of people lump them in with the other losing Colts teams from 1978-1983 just prior to their departure for Indianapolis. A 10-6 finish ....... with or without a playoff berth ........ would have distinguished that team from the other losing ones from that timespan, and also would have enhanced Bert Jones' overall legacy of being a huge difference-maker in regard to when he did play vs. when he was injured.
o