Two of CBS Sports’ Top 10 all-time NFL conference championship games featured the Colts from 1995 and 2006.
CBS Sports has ranked the 20 greatest NFL conference championship games in league history, and the Indianapolis Colts—the 1995 and 2006 Horseshoe teams in particular—have played in two of the Top 10 all-time NFL conference championship games, despite the extremely different results.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Colts 16 in the 1995 AFC Title
The Steelers were coming off a devastating 1994 AFC title game loss to the Chargers. They were down 16–13 to the Colts when Harbaugh hit Turner with a perfectly timed pass in single coverage.
Late in the game, the Steelers faced a fourth-and-3, but Neil O’Donnell’s 9-yard pass to Andre Hastings preserved their season. The following play, O’Donnell threw deep to Ernie Mills, who stole a 37-yard gain by tiptoeing the sideline. Bam Morris’ game-winning touchdown was set up by the catch.
Harbaugh led the Colts from their own 16 to the Steelers’ 29-yard line with 1:34 remaining. With just five seconds remaining, Harbaugh launched a Hail Mary into the Steelers’ end zone. Aaron Bailey, a Colts receiver, was hit in the chest after the ball was deflected multiple times. Bailey could not get his arms around the ball before it struck his chest because he was falling to the ground.
The Steelers made their first Super Bowl appearance since 1979 thanks to the incomplete pass. But it would have been unquestionably one of the greatest plays in NFL history if Bailey had been able to secure the catch.
3. Colts 38, Patriots 34 in the 2006 AFC Championship
Halfway through the second quarter of the 2006 AFC championship game, the Colts stared down a 21-3 deficit following recent playoff losses to the Patriots. Nevertheless, the Colts scored the next eighteen points of the game, including a touchdown pass from Peyton Manning to lineman Dan Klecko, after Asante Samuel’s 39-yard pick-six of Manning. After recovering from a fumble in the Patriots’ end, center Jeff Saturday of the Colts tied the score.
With 3:49 remaining and trailing 34-31, Manning sandwiched a 32-yard completion to Bryan Fletcher between two completions to Reggie Wayne. Earlier in the game, Fletcher—a rarely used tight end—had pleaded with Manning to look his way. Once they got to the Patriots’ 11-yard line, Manning signaled for rookie running back Joseph Addai to score three times in a row. With 1:02 remaining, Addai scored the game-winning touchdown on his third carry.
After leading his team past midfield, Brady—whose late-game skill was already legendary by this point—threw a game-ending interception to fellow Michigan Man and cornerback Marlin Jackson. With Manning at the controls, the Colts would go on to win their lone Super Bowl. In Denver, Manning would defeat the Patriots in two more AFC title games and end his career with a 3-1 conference championship game record against the Brady/Belichick Patriots.
When starting quarterback Jim Harbaugh, also known as Captain Comeback, made a valiant late come-from-behind attempt on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1995, the Colts narrowly missed making it to the Super Bowl in the final seconds. Given the late game heroics and what was obviously at stake for both teams, his Hail Mary attempt would have undoubtedly gone down as one of the greatest plays in NFL history. The Steelers ultimately lost Super Bowl XXX to the storied Dallas Cowboys, 27-17.
Naturally, Colts supporters have much happier memories of the 2006 AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots, their bitterest rivals. Under Peyton Manning’s leadership, those legendary teams managed to overcome the odds and defeat the team led by Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. But considering that Indianapolis was trailing 21-3 halfway through the second quarter, the victory wasn’t always convincing or even realistically plausible. The Colts needed some very special plays to pull off the victory, including a touchdown from Dan Klecko, a fumble recovery by Jeff Saturday in the end zone that resulted in another touchdown, and a crucial catch from backup tight end Bryan Fletcher that tied the record for the largest comeback deficit in team history at 18 points.
