INDIANAPOLIS — Some games fade into the history books as simple footnotes. Others live on as ghosts, haunting the losers and fueling the victors for decades. Nineteen years ago today—January 21, 2007—the Indianapolis Colts didn’t just win a football game; they performed an exorcism.
Trailing 21-3 to their arch-nemesis, the New England Patriots, the Colts staged the largest comeback in AFC Championship history to win 38-34. It was the night Peyton Manning finally toppled the Bill Belichick empire, punching a ticket to Super Bowl XLI and changing the narrative of his career forever.
If you were in the RCA Dome that night, you remember the silence. It was heavy. Tom Brady and the Patriots’ offense were surgical early on. An Asante Samuel pick-six had put New England up 21-3, and the “Manning can’t win the big one” headlines were practically being printed by halftime.
The stats at that point were grim. The Colts had zero momentum. But halftime changed everything. The defense, often the team’s Achilles’ heel, tightened up, and Manning came out firing with a precision that bordered on telepathic.
The second half wasn’t magic; it was execution. The Colts chipped away. A 1-yard Manning sneak. A touchdown pass to… defensive tackle Dan Klecko? Yes, that actually happened. Suddenly, it was 21-21.
The fourth quarter was a heavyweight brawl. Brady found Jabar Gaffney. Manning found Jeff Saturday (for a fumble recovery TD). The teams traded blows until the clock ticked under three minutes. That’s when Manning orchestrated the drive of his life—an 80-yard march capped by Joseph Addai’s 3-yard plunge to take the lead, 38-34, with just 60 seconds left.
“Marlin’s got it! We’re going to the Super Bowl! We’re going to the Super Bowl!” — Bob Lamey, Voice of the Colts (Radio Call)
Brady had one minute to ruin the party. He had done it before. But on 2nd and 10 from the Colts’ 45, he looked for Reche Caldwell. He found Marlin Jackson instead. Jackson’s interception didn’t just seal the game; it blew the roof off the RCA Dome. The noise wasn’t just cheering; it was 10 years of frustration leaving the bodies of 57,000 fans at once.
Looking back from 2026, we know what happened next. The Colts went on to smash the Bears in the rain in Miami. Manning got his ring. But for many in Indy, this was the real Super Bowl. It was the moment the “little brother” syndrome ended.
Even nearly two decades later, the 2006 AFC Championship remains the gold standard of the Manning-Brady rivalry. It had everything: the stakes, the deficit, the Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and the deafening, earth-shaking finish.
