The Indianapolis Colts experienced their first loss of the season after 14 straight wins today against the New York Jets, and many fans are arguing that it is all due to a misguided decision of Colts coach Jim Caldwell late in the game.

Jim Caldwell may have just thrown away the Colts’ perfect 14-0 season record when he decided to pull out QB Peyton Manning for rookie Curtis Painter on a five-point lead in the third. Caldwell wanted to take out the Colts’ MVP-material QB for one who’s never had major NFL experience before, tasked to hold a five-point lead against a stout Jets defense – that may just have been the Colts’ suicide pill.

Caldwell’s move was even boo’ed almost on cue. And they were playing at home.

The Jets went on to score 19 points under Painter, with the Colts not managing to return any back, winning the game 29-15.

Caldwell’s rationale might have been to prevent key player Manning from incurring any injuries in what is supposed to be a simple straightforward win – after all, it’s not worth it to disable Manning from more important games in the future if he ever got injured in a game that had virtually no effect on the teams’ seeding.

But fans argue that the team’s momentum to win may just have been lost in a pointless decision mid-game. Many people wait to see if the Colts would be able to maintain the attitude it took to score 14 straight wins after they have actually experienced a loss.