Since the NFL expanded its postseason in 1990, 75 percent of the 170 teams to begin a season with a 3-0 record made the playoffs. That's one way to look at it.
Another way: 25 percent of those teams didn't, with recent examples existing like the 2024 Seattle Seahawks, the 2021 Carolina Panthers and the 2021 Denver Broncos. The Panthers and Broncos didn't even finish over .500.
Injuries and attrition can sometimes play a part in a 3-0 start fizzling out, but those are things mostly out of the control of a team's players and coaches. Something that is in their control, though, is the mindset with which they prepare for a given game.
For the Colts, their current collective mindset shifted well before this impressive start to the 2025 season.
"Last year, we were like oh, we're gonna win the division, we're gonna win this game," tight end Mo Alie-Cox said on this week's episode of The Jack Doyle Podcast. "But we changed our focus to being more process-oriented and taking it just one day at a time, and I think that's really helped us this year and it's helped us get off to a fast start."
Head coach Shane Steichen, during his weekly team meeting Wednesday, preached a "Day 1 mentality" to his players. Meaning: The feeling and focus players had after being drafted, or coaches had on their first day at a new job, needs to be the way the Colts collectively approach each day of preparation this season – no matter the team's record.
"I think any time you have momentum early in the season, the biggest thing is keeping that momentum," Steichen said. "And that's why I go back to that Day 1 mentality and taking it one day at a time, because we know this is a long season. We're excited about where we're at but it's the process that we gotta go through each and every week to get done what we need to get done."
A 17-game season means you can't totally break a season into four quarters, but it's worth noting this isn't just the Colts' first 3-0 start since 2009 – no matter what happens Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, it'll be their first four-game stretch to begin a season with a winning record since 2020.
But, again: Doing well in the first four games of a season doesn't mean a team will do well in the final 13 games of a season, which is a message that's resonated across the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center this week.
"It's just a mentality of our whole building, nobody takes their foot off the gas," linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "We're all full steam ahead. It wasn't our goal to be the best team in the league in three weeks. It wasn't our goal to just be 3-0. Our goal is continue to push and get better every week. I think every man in this building continues to push themselves to be the best version of themselves every week."
Or, as Alie-Cox put it: "We're 3-0, but we still haven't done anything."
The 2025 Colts have accomplished plenty as a team through three games, and individually, they have guys like running back Jonathan Taylor (back-to-back AFC Offensive Player of the Week, leads the NFL in rushing yards), tight end Tyler Warren (Week 2 NFL Rookie of the Week, most receiving yards by a Colts player in first three games of a career in team history) and safety Cam Bynum (two interceptions) enjoying plenty of early-season success. Quarterback Daniel Jones, too, is one of those guys, with three consecutive games earning passer rating over 100.
But Jones, like the rest of the Colts, isn't focused on what he's done to start the season. The focus, for Jones, was on what he had to do on Wednesday to prepare for Sunday's trip to Los Angeles.
"It's just about kind of what you're doing right then at the moment," Jones said. "Today, we've gotta have a great Wednesday practice and continue that through the week, and make sure we're sharp in our prep, going through all of it and making sure we're prepared. I think it's all of that, certainly not looking in the past and not looking too far in the future, just focusing on what we need to do today."
