Photo by Andrew Innarity
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Peyton Manning hopes to be hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy again this season.

The Indianapolis Colts have been through this before.

Oh, I know. They have had to defend a Super Bowl championship since their days in Baltimore. But these Colts — these Tony Dungy/Peyton Manning Colts — know enough about the challenge ahead this season to be successful and win it all again.

You may be asking yourself, "What the heck is he talking about?" Never a bad question when it comes to my reasoning, but hear (or read) me out.

All you have to do is go back to the beginning of last season when it looked very iffy for the Colts.

They had lost running back Edgerrin James, their career rushing leader, through free agency to the Arizona Cardinals. Linebacker David Thornton was also gone.

Then they had key injuries to Corey Simon and Montae Reagor on defense and Indianapolis started looking a bit more ordinary.

But by the time it was all over, the Colts were hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy and Manning finally had that "can't-win-the-big-one" chip off his shoulder.

If still you doubt the ability of Manning and the Colts to repeat as champions, consider the following.

In the last four seasons, the Colts have:

n won four AFC South championships;

n played in two AFC Championship games;

n won a Super Bowl;

n became the only team in NFL history to go 9-0 in back-to-back seasons.

Put that all together and it's not hard to see how this could be another banner year in Indianapolis.

The Colts can become the first team in NFL history to chalk up five consecutive 12-victory seasons and they can become the ninth team to win back-to-back Super Bowls.

One of the main problems teams have after they've won the Super Bowl is refocusing for the next season after all the parades, parties and chicken dinners. The Pittsburgh Steelers never really came close to recapturing their Super Bowl magic after defeating the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XL.

The remarkably down-to-earth Dungy is such an admirable, well-grounded coach, it's difficult to see the Colts straying from the mark.

Sure they lost four starters to free agency. Sure, the New England Patriots are out there, lying in wait for the Colts again. But having tasted victory once, I think the Indianapolis Colts have what it takes to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

— Jim Carlisle is a staff writer for The Star. E-mail address: jcarlisle@VenturaCountyStar.com.