Colts crave Super Bowl to crown season

Jeff Taylor, Indianapolis

So when the Colts win a wild-card game in grand fashion as they did on Sunday against the Denver Broncos blowing them out 49-24 at the RCA Dome in a game that really wasn't that close it might be a pretty thing to watch, but the reality is that it also brings to mind this thought: So what?

That might seem a bit cruel, a bit callous, considering the dominance the Colts displayed against the Broncos, but anything short of a Super Bowl for this team will be a failed season.

The skeptics will always be lurking until the Colts can have a summer ceremony to slip on those Super Bowl rings. Out-of-this-world passing numbers by Peyton Manning are nice. MVP trophies look good on the mantle, and it's wonderful to put more Colts names in the NFL record book than there are Smiths in a city phone directory.

But none of it really matters if there's no Super Bowl trip. To get there, the Colts will have to beat the defending champions when they travel to Foxboro next Sunday to play the New England Patriots. It was the Patriots who beat them in the AFC Championship Game last season, keeping alive the thoughts of the legion of doubters who insist anything short of a Super Bowl is failure for this team.

"That's a valid point," Colts receiver Brandon Stokley said. "People can bring it up all they want, and we really can't say much about it. It's a valid point."

Manning put on a passing clinic against Denver for the second consecutive year, completing 27 of 33 passes for 457 yards and four touchdowns.

Now comes the tough part, winning at New England. It's the game the Colts have been waiting to play, even if they didn't say so Sunday. It's a validation point.

Win, and they're for real.

Win, and Manning can kick to the curb all those who doubt his ability to win the truly big ones. He played poorly last year as the Patriots corners beat up his receivers.

Wild-card victories are nice and all, but if the Colts can win at New England next week, the doubters will scatter like ants on a stepped-on ant pile. If they lose, those doubters will be heard louder than ever.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings had the last laugh on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, and Randy Moss stuck around for every sweet second of this one. Moss caught two touchdown passes, making good on his promise to atone for walking off the field last week while his teammates were trying to win their regular season finale, and the Vikings rolled to a 31-17 victory over the stunned Packers.

The Vikings, joining St. Louis as the only 8-8 teams ever to win in the playoffs, will travel to Philadelphia on Sunday after dominating the first postseason meeting with their bitter border rivals.

Green Bay had swept the season series, including a last-second win at the Metrodome two weeks ago to clinch the NFC North crown and the home field for Sunday's showdown at Lambeau Field, where the Packers have lost two playoff games in the last three years.

Daunte Culpepper threw four touchdown passes giving him 11 TD passes and no interceptions against Green Bay this season and the Vikings picked off four Brett Favre passes after managing just 11 interceptions all season.

Divisional play offs:

Saturday: NY Jets at Pittsburgh; St. Louis at Atlanta.

Sunday: Minnesota at Philadelphia, Indianapolis at New England.