Years before Peyton Manning led the Colts to a Super Bowl win following the 2006 season, Indianapolis made an improbable run in 1995 that almost led them to the Super Bowl. The team was led by Jim Harbaugh who quarterbacked the Colts to a 9-7 record and a wild card berth. They beat the San Diego Chargers 35-20 in the Wild Card round for their first playoff win in 24 years and their first since moving to Indy in 1984. The next week, the Colts beat the #1 seeded Kansas City Chiefs 10-7. It set up a match-up with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The year before, the Steelers were upset by the Chargers in the AFC Championship game.
Harbaugh earned the nickname "Captain Comeback" and nearly led the Colts to victory in this game. With the ball on the Steelers 29 yard line and Indy down 20-16 with five seconds left in the fourth quarter, Harbaugh threw a Hail Mary pass and the ball came down in a crowd of players in the end zone. Wide receiver Aaron Bailey had the ball on his chest briefly but the ball fell to the turf and the game was over.
The Colts were the first #5 seed to advance to the conference title game since the 1990 playoff expansion. To think that Jim Harbaugh and not Peyton Manning could have led the Colts to the Super Bowl (and maybe even won it).
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