The Colts are 3-0 for the first time since 2009, but there's plenty of work ahead for this team to turn its strong start into the franchise's first playoff appearance since 2020.
"Definitely excited to be 3-0," right tackle Braden Smith said, "but it's something I tell myself — if we lose the rest of the games, then it doesn't really matter."
It's only Sept. 22, which is way too early to talk about what the Colts' playoff odds are for the 2025 season, but we can put the Colts' 3-0 start – and a few of the things they've done to get there – into some historical context here.
Since the NFL expanded to six playoff teams in each conference in 1990, 170 teams began a season with a 3-0 record. Of those, 128 made the playoffs (75 percent); 118 won 10 or more games (69 percent) and only 12 finished below .500 (7 percent).
And since the NFL expanded its postseason to seven teams per conference in 2020, 22 teams have begun a season with a 3-0 record; 19 of them (86 percent) made the playoffs. The three teams that did not: The 2021 Carolina Panthers (finished 5-12), the 2021 Denver Broncos (finished 7-10) and the 2024 Seattle Seahawks (finished 10-7).
Let's look at another number here: The 103 points scored by the Colts, the most in franchise history over the first three games of a season since 1967.
Since 1990, the 2025 Colts are the 54th team to score 100+ points in the first three games of a season (the Buffalo Bills have also hit triple digits to begin 2025). Of those 52 previous teams, 42 made the playoffs (81 percent); one of the 10 teams that didn't was the 2000 Colts, who went 6-10. The 2024 New Orleans Saints scored 103 points over their first three games and finished with a 5-12 record.
The 2025 Colts and 2025 Bills are also two of four teams in the Super Bowl era (1966-present) to begin a season with 100+ points and zero turnovers in their first three games, joining the 2020 Green Bay Packers and 2019 Baltimore Ravens, both of whom went on to win their respective divisions.
The Colts' streak of 20 consecutive drives without a punt ended in the second quarter of Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans, which was tied for the fifth-longest streak of drives without a punt since 1993, per NFL Research. The 2005 Colts hold the record since 1993 for most consecutive drives without a punt (27).
Now, you might be asking yourself: What does any of this mean?
For one, it means the Colts have a good team – at least through three weeks. But none of this means the Colts are guaranteed to make the playoffs.
And that's the storyline the Colts are looking at, not the ones involving NFL history.
"The first three games are definitely something to build off," Smith said. "Feel confident with it — it's something, not growing complacent with it, but continuing to grow, continuing to get better, because there's definitely gonna be a lot of challenges down the road that we're gonna face, including next week. We just gotta keep growing, keep our heads down and keep working."
