There are too many thoughts when Andrew Luck announced his
retirement. Someday, I may write a post ranking, listing and pondering all of
them, each one more ludicrous than the rest. This is a decision that has so
many implications – for the Colts, for Luck, for the NFL as a whole. But
mostly, because I am selfish, I first thought of what it meant for me – a Colts
fan, and on the whole, I am ok with it. I truly wish Andrew Luck all the best
as he moves on to living the life he said he wasn’t able to because of footballs
ills. But in his retirement wake leaves a lot of questions. What it also puts
in stark display is the ills of that six month stretch from when the Colts ruled
Manning out of the 2011 season through to releasing him. They were wrong, even
they we were blessed to watch Luck play.
Many Colts fans were ready to see the page turned away from
Manning in 2011, mostly due to the uncertainty of him playing again, but also
because Andrew Luck was the next sure thing, the best prospect since Manning.
Andrew Luck was supposed to be the sure thing. The math went would you pick 5 years
of Manning over 15 years of Luck. Many of us said yes, and even when we did it
wasn’t because we expected Luck to barely make it halfway through that 15. You
never give up on special players, on those so meainingful as Peyton Manning,
when there is a chance they get back. Jim Irsay took that chance away, then ran
his mouth to degrees that will look so bad now that the Luck era is over too.
They cut a Manning who showed on (grainy) video footage he
could still throw to draft Andrew Luck and turn the page – something that was about
a lot more than just the QB, but more about Irsay taking control of the franchise
back from that meanie Bill Polian. They had the ability to do it because Irsay
could draft his savior. Problem was that his savior was never going to be Peyton
Manning.
In the end, Andrew Luck was amazing. He excelled from his
frist game, leading a truly awful 2012 Colts team to a miracle 11-5 season, and
then doing it a few more times. He took a bad team to the 2014 AFC Championship
Game. He pulled off miracles despite being hamstrung by a coach and GM who were
trying to inadvertently undermine him to appease an owner who wanted to win the
Patriots way and avoid the ‘star-wars’ numbers of the Manning era (talk about a
quote that has aged well….). He did all of that, but took a pounding, had to
overcome myriad injuries, and in the end it was too much – just like it was for
Calvin Johnson or Patrick Willis or other all time greats who have made the
same decision in a continuing worrying trend.
I do want to speak about the dichotomous reaction we get. Some
Colts fans booed him as the Colts left the field in their preseason game. The
internet, as they are wont to do, took this as a pitch-fork mob moment to slam
these fans. Those people (the one’s criticizing the fans) need to GTFOH. I
totally understand why those fans, in the heat of the moment, booed him. Those
fans are likely season ticket holders, who have paid a lot of money (especially
given average Indianapolis salaries) to buy tickets to watch a team they’ve
invested so much in. And now their season, and likely their immediate
multi-year future, just got thrown away as they saw Luck retire. They didn’t
know why. Luck hadn’t given his beautifully emotional press conference. They
lashed out – they deserve that right.
I imagine most of those fans tomorrow will feel bad for booing
him, they will understand the reasons the man walked away, to leave before he spiraled
further.
The words coming from Andrew Luck were so poignant, but also
screamed that this was almost more mental than physical. That mentally he was
weakened by the toll of having to rehab year after year, that darkness from that
rehab was slowly spilling to his personal life, that he needed to escape before
it ruined him. God bless Andrew Luck for figuring that out, and doing the brave
thing and leaving millions upon millions on the table. He did that because he had.
We’ll move on because we have to.
The last 10 years of Colts football has been one of the
strangest decade runs ever. It started with a season where the team went 14-0,
but then sat its starters in Week 16 in 2009, a move that in my mind forever
altered the course of the franchise. It was that moment that had fans turn in
Bill Polian, which led to his ouster two years later. Manning left shortly
thereafter, in an earth shattering decision that seven years later stands out starkly
as having been the wrong move. Luck comes in and then six years later the same
thing happens. Someday we’ll have a full six-part 30for30 on this era of Colts
football.
I hope Andrew Luck
achieves the peace and happiness he deserves. I hope Colts fans move on and cheer
him with every fiber of their body whenever they have a real retirement ceremony
or jersey retirement. I hope no one ever argues that Manning should have been
kept. I also hope no one ever loses sight of the fun aspects of the Luck era,
the great comebacks, the Chuck game over the Packers, the playoff win over the
Chiefs, and so much more.
I once wrote many moons back that ‘I love Andrew Luck, I lived
Peyton Manning’. I still don’t know exactly what that means, but I do know what
I meant by that. Peyton was larger than just a sports player to me, I lived
through him, learned lessons through his victories and crushing defeats. In the
end, I never had the same connection with Luck – partly because I was always on
team #keep18. But in the end, I’m glad I got to watch Andrew Luck for seven
seasons, including his incredible return in 2018. I do love Andrew Luck, and I
hope he is able to love his life in full forever.
