After one final season in Green Bay, Jeff Saturday is returning to the Colts to call it a career and officially retire with the team, and he says that when he looks back on his time in Indianapolis, there’s only one thing he regrets.
That one thing is that in 2009, the Colts started 14-0 but didn’t try to finish a perfect season, instead resting their starters and losing their final two regular-season games. They ended up losing the Super Bowl to the Saints at the end of the postseason.
“That’s the only thing I wish we would have done differently,” Saturday told Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star. “I was in favor of it, but obviously, I got out-voted [by management]. When we pulled everybody and just let it go by the wayside and ended up losing, that was a great opportunity we had. As a player, perfection is the highest goal you can reach. And we were so close.”
Saturday’s comments don’t specifically mention who he blames for that decision, but former Colts G.M. Bill Polian is often blamed for being the one who decided the Colts would rest Peyton Manning and Co. in the final two games. That decision wasn’t popular with the Colts’ players then, and it’s still not popular with them now.