Whether in Baltimore or Indianapolis, the Colts are one of the NFL’s most storied franchises. They’ve had the good fortune of having some of the league’s most iconic quarterbacks leading them. We’re talking about folk heroes here, the type of men that other men look up to and admire their greatness. Some might try to hate, but we know that they’re full of it.

Here are the five men that have led the Colts to the most greatness over the years, no matter what city they called home!

5. Earl Morrall

Morrall had already spent eleven seasons in the NFL before arriving in Baltimore in 1968. He spent most of those seasons as a backup, and that’s what he was brought in to do for Johnny Unitas. Then Unitas got his arm torn up in a preseason game. No problem, the Colts were really good & Morrall had the season of his life. He led the NFL with 26 touchdown passes, threw for over 2900 yards and was voted MVP while receiving his only Pro Bowl selection. The Colts went 13-1, won the NFL Championship and were heavy favorites to beat the New York Jets in Super Bowl III. We all know what happened next. Morrall would prefer we talk about Super Bowl V, where he filled in after Unitas suffered a rib injury, and led the Colts to a three point victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

Morrall returned to starting duties in 1971 when Unitas struggled. Morrall didn’t perform as well, but the Colts still went 7-2 with him starting & made it to the conference championship game. Overall, Morrall went 22-3-1 as starter. Regardless of how much credit you want to give him, you can’t argue with that success rate. You have to be a pretty good backup when you can fill in for Johnny fricking Unitas and things don’t fall apart.

4. Bert Jones

Jones was the second overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft, picked by the Colts to fill the slot that Johnny Unitas left behind when he was traded to San Diego. Big shoes to fill, but it seemed like Jones was well on his way to doing so by the time 1976 rolled around. In his second season as full-time QB1, Jones led the NFL in passing with 3,104 yards while throwing 24 touchdowns versus only 9 interceptions. He was named MVP that season, with a Pro Bowl selection & All-Pro first team selection in tow. The Colts won their division three straight times from 1975-77, but were unable to win a playoff game.

After 1977, Jones’ career was derailed by various injuries. He separated his shoulder during a 1978 preseason game and ended up only playing three games that season. 1979 saw him play four games, and while he played full seasons in 1980 & 81, he took quite a beating during the process. He set a record for times being sacked in a single game when the St. Louis Cardinals took him fown 12 times on October 26, 1980. John Riggins called him the toughest competitor he ever witnessed, and most believe that if his career hadn’t been cut short by injuries, he’d be in the conversation with a couple of fellas on this list for best ever.

Heck, Bill Belichick said Jones was the best pure passer he’d ever seen.

3. Andrew Luck

In six seasons, Luck was selected to the Pro Bowl four times. He led the Colts to four playoff berths, threw for over 4,000 yards four times, and was voted Comeback Player of the Year for 2018 after missing the entire 2017 season due to injury. His 4,374 passing yards in 2012 is a single-season record for a rookie quarterback. His 4,761 passing yards in 2014 is a Colts single-season record. He seemed well on his way to a memorable career, comparing after six seasons to the likes of Joe Montana, Drew Brees, Ken Anderson & Troy Aikman. He still needed a playoff breakthrough to establish himself on the top tier of quarterbacks, but we assumed that was coming.

Until Andrew Luck retired prior to the 2019 season. The injuries took too much of a toll, and Luck was never really the kind of guy that was obsessed with the game like a lot of his peers are. He was ready to move on. All indications are that he’s happy in retirement, much to the dismay of Colts fans wondering who will quarterback the team this upcoming season. Never say never, but my guess is that we’ve seen Andrew Luck’s career in full, and it was fun while it lasted.

2. Johnny Unitas

When Unitas came out of the University of Louisville, nobody in the world thought he was going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Certainly not the Pittsburgh Steelers, who cut him after one training camp. He got a regular job in Pittsburgh while playing semi-pro ball on the weekends. He went to a Colts tryout in 1956, impressed the coaches & got a spot on the team.

What’d he do next? Oh, nothing too major. Was selected to ten straight Pro Bowls. Named All-Pro five times. Led the NFL in passing yards & touchdowns passes four times. Won three MVP awards. Led the Colts to three NFL Championships & one Super Bowl victory. Just helped revolutionize the quarterback position and helped make the NFL more of a passing league. Nothing fancy. Johnny Unitas would easily be number one on most of these lists. You might argue he should be on top of this one, and I wouldn’t argue with you too much.

Unitas is one of those players people of my father’s generation would tell me about. Someday, I’ll be telling youngsters about the number one person on this list.

1. Peyton Manning

Unlike Johnny U, we all knew that Peyton was going to be great when he got drafted out of the University of Tennessee. We didn’t know how great, and he blew everybody’s high expectations out of the water. He was named the NFL’s MVP four times, was selected to eleven Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro five times while with the Colts. (More numbers were added to each of those categories later.) Peyton won AFC Offensive Player of the Year six times while with the Colts. He threw under 4,000 yards in two seasons. After his rookie season, he never completed less than 62% of his passes for a season as a Colt.

His one shortcoming? He only won one Super Bowl while he was with the Colts. Even though he led the Colts to seven straight seasons with 12+ wins as a starter, his teams tended to come up short in the postseason. Usually against Tom Brady & the New England Patriots. Can we blame him for coming up short just like everybody else did? Sure we can, when we compare him to Tom Brady. Not against his fellow Colts quarterbacks.

Thanks for reading! Next time, we look at All Elite Wrestling’s favorite football team, the Jacksonville Jaguars!