Colts begin another season trying to snap the NFL's longest opening-game winless streak

By Michael Marot

Indianapolis long snapper Luke Rhodes sits quietly at his locker, getting ready for practice.

As one of the five longest-tenured Colts players, Rhodes knows exactly what he's about to be asked.

Days before the start of another NFL season, his eighth, Rhodes is trying to answer what has become the most mystifying question in town: When will the Colts finally win a season opener?

“Of course it's frustrating,” he said, referring to the NFL's longest active opening-day winless streak of 10 straight. “I mean, as a competitor, you want to win and starting the season off with a win is huge and it's something we haven't had for a little while. Especially being at home because we're super focused on winning at home this year.”

Whatever the explanation, it seems to defy logic.

No other NFL team owns a season-opening winless streak longer than three years, and the Colts have been involved in every kind of contest, from blowouts to close calls and even a 20-20 tie at Houston in 2022.

Though some of the quarterbacks involved were household names — Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan — others are long forgotten, such as Scott Tolzien. Luck was involved in three of those losses. Jacoby Brissett, New England's new starter, lost twice.

Just how long has it been since Indy started 1-0?

Andrew Luck was in his second pro season. He retired five years ago. And not a single player remains on Indy's roster from Sept. 8, 2013, when Luck scored on a 19-yard run with 5:20 to play to give the Colts a 21-17 lead over the Raiders, who were still in Oakland.

Since then, it's been one loss after another, with the exception of that tie. But with Anthony Richardson expected to become the first Colts quarterback in eight years to make consecutive Week 1 starts, perhaps things will change.

Just don't mention it at Colts headquarters.

“Obviously, a big divisional opener and I'm not going to talk about, you know, opening day wins and stuff like that,” owner Jim Irsay said in July. “Obviously, we're hungry to get our opening game as a victory, no questions about that. So couldn't be more excited.”

A win Sunday over the visiting Texans would do more than just end The Streak.

Indy hasn't posted a winning record against division foes since its last playoff appearance in 2020 and when these teams last met at Lucas Oil Stadium in January, the Texans walked away with a 23-19 victory and the AFC South title — sending the Colts home without a postseason berth for the third straight year.

“Just looking for a chance to right a wrong, you know what I mean?” linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “Obviously, the Week 18 game, it was tough. It was something to deal with. Had to grow through it, learn through it.”

As each season begins, the reminders come screaming back.

Former Colts great Peyton Manning started The Streak when he led Denver to a 31-24 victory in 2014.

Two years later, the Colts rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit against Detroit and took a 35-34 lead when Luck hooked up with Jack Doyle for a 6-yard TD pass with 37 seconds left, only to watch the Lions score twice — on Matt Prater's go-ahead field goal and a safety on the final play.

The Colts then lost twice in three years at Los Angeles, once to the Rams when Luck was injured and once to the Chargers following Luck's surprise retirement.

In 2020, Rivers lost his first game with Indy at Jacksonville for a Colts team that wound up making the playoffs. Then there was the tie in 2022 and last year, in coach Shane Steichen's debut, the Colts lost again to Jacksonville at home.

“I think every year — gosh, yeah, you want to hit the ground running Week 1. I mean you’re trying to win every game, and the urgency definitely has got to be there,” Steichen said. “We know it’s a big game. It’s a division opponent right off the bat at home, and we’ve got to start fast. We’ve got to get off to a fast start this year. That’s the goal every year.”

The question, of course, is can they solve the riddle Sunday?

“We've put a lot of talk into protecting Lucas Oil this year, being able to do it against a division opponent is, it's awesome,” Rhodes said.