Okay Colt's Fans, this is the stretch that will test your patience. This is our first non-meaningless-game losing streak in years, and it happened in the most painful way possible.

The loss to the Pats was the first lump to the head. After showing New England what it's like to play against a real team instead of the cupcakes they've encountered all season, we man-handled them for 3 solid quarters before collapsing in the end, giving them pretty much clear sailing to an undefeated regular season and a lock on homefield throughout the playoffs.

But it was certainly a statement game for both sides. The Colts were at partial strength, missing 4 starters including Harrison and Ugoh... making the offense sputter. Full strength? We could have easily maintained our lead and likely pulled out the win.

The loss to the Chargers was a different animal all together. Even more injuries left us with so many new faces in the receiving corp that the miscues in the timing routes showed to the tune of 6 interceptions. Not that they could all be blamed on mis-steps, Manning certainly threw a few he shouldn't have, and a few were simply sick circus catches.

Despite the hardships, we held their offense in check with stifling coverage, stuffing the resergent Tomlinson to just 76 yards. Everyone knows the end of this story with the field goal and the wide right and the fumble and the hail-mary interception and the cursing and the shattered tv screen and such. But once again a statement had been made... and know one cares.

The Chargers know they got away with one. Eyes were rolled when Norv Turner gave his "We really came through for the win on this one" speech in the locker room afterwards. The Colts fans know that with an even more depleted team they were right there for the win.

But the time for showing what we could have done is over. We approach week 11 lacking many key players, including Freeney who is now out for the year. And it's time for this team to show that they can do more than just hang in there with some injuries, they need to prove they are still a champion calibre team regardless of the excuse of the week. Kansas City is as good a team to prove that against as any, but it's also a potential trap game. They have injuries of their own to deal with with the ailing foot of Larry Johnson, but you can bet they haven't forgotten how we bounced them in last year's playoffs. And they likely saw the buzzards circling the wounded Colts on the way into town.