1996 Indianapolis Colts season

1996 Indianapolis Colts season
Owner	Robert Irsay
General manager	Bill Tobin
Head coach	Lindy Infante
Home stadium	RCA Dome
Results
Record	9–7
Division place	3rd AFC East
Playoffs	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Steelers) 14–42
←  1995 Colts seasons 1997  →

The 1996 Indianapolis Colts season was the 44th season for the team in the National Football League (NFL) and 13th in Indianapolis.

Despite leading the Colts to the AFC Championship Game the previous season, head coach Ted Marchibroda left the team after failing to come to terms with the club on a contract extension. The decision enraged many of the Colts, who loved playing for Marchibroda and blamed the front office for driving him away (Tony Siragusa often, and profanely, brought up his fury by stating "We had a great thing going, and this guy (GM Tobin) dismantled it"). Offensive coordinator Lindy Infante was promoted to head coach. Ironically, Marchibroda would quickly be hired to coach the newly relocated & then-unnamed NFL franchise in Baltimore that would eventually be named the Baltimore Ravens, thus returning to the city where he had previously coached the Colts when they were still based in Maryland.

On October 13 Indianapolis hosted the Ravens, thus not only pitting the Colts against the team based in their former home but also matching up Marchibroda against his former team. The Colts won 26–21. This game also has the distinction of being the first NFL on TNT broadcast after TNT's parent Turner Broadcasting System completed its merger with Time Warner only three days earlier.

The season saw the Colts draft Marvin Harrison. Harrison would go on to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after spending his entire career as a Colt. Harrison was named to Pro Bowl several times and later helped the Colts win a Super Bowl in 2006. He continued to play for the team until 2008 and retired during the 2009 season.

The Indianapolis Colts finished the National Football League's 1996 season with a record of 9 wins and 7 losses, finished third in the AFC East division and reached the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Their Wild Card round game would be a rematch of the previous season's AFC title game, but would not be nearly as close as the Colts would be blown out 42–14 by the Pittsburgh Steelers. ^[1]

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1996 NFL draft

1996 Indianapolis Colts draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	19	Marvin Harrison  †	Wide receiver	Syracuse
2	51	Dedric Mathis	Defensive back	Houston
3	82	Scott Slutzker	Tight end	Iowa
Made roster    †    Pro Football Hall of Fame     *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1996 Indianapolis Colts staff

Front office President emeritus – Robert Irsay Senior executive vice president/general manager/coo – Jim Irsay Vice president/director of football operations – Bill Tobin Assistant general manager – Bob Terpening Director of pro player personnel – Clyde Powers Director of college player personnel – George Boone Head coaches Head coach – Lindy Infante Offensive coaches Running backs – Gene Huey Receivers – Jimmy Robinson Tight ends/quality control – Tom Batta Offensive line – Ron Blackledge Assistant to the offensive line – Charlie Davis Offensive assistant/assistant quarterbacks – Buddy Geis

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Jim Johnson Defensive line – Greg Blache Linebackers – Chuck Bresnahan Secondary – Pat Thomas Defensive assistant – Fred Bruney Special teams coaches Special teams – Hank Kuhlmann Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – Tom Zupancic

Roster

1996 Indianapolis Colts roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 12 Kerwin Bell  4 Jim Harbaugh 13 Kelly Holcomb 11 Paul Justin Running backs (RB) 28 Marshall Faulk 33 Clif Groce FB 44 Chris Hetherington FB 20 Leon Neal 21 Lamont Warren 46 Vince Workman Wide receivers (WR) 80 Aaron Bailey 87 Sean Dawkins 15 Chris Doering 88 Marvin Harrison 86 Brian Stablein PR 10 Mark Stock Tight ends (TE) 85 Ken Dilger 81 Marcus Pollard 84 Scott Slutzker

Offensive linemen (OL) 75 Troy Auzenne T 65 Eric Mahlum G 58 Jay Leeuwenburg C 63 Kirk Lowdermilk C 79 Tony Mandarich T 67 Jason Mathews T 71 Kipp Vickers T 72 Derek West T 64 Doug Widell G Defensive linemen (DL) 56 Tony Bennett DE 96 Richard Dent DE 62 Ellis Johnson DE 90 Steve Martin DT 61 Tony McCoy DT 97 Kendel Shello DT 98 Tony Siragusa DT 95 Bernard Whittington DE

Linebackers (LB) 51 Trev Alberts OLB 50 Elijah Alexander OLB 53 Sammie Burroughs OLB 59 Steve Grant MLB 54 Jeff Herrod MLB 52 Steve Morrison OLB Defensive backs (DB) 29 Jason Belser FS 34 Ray Buchanan CB 38 Eugene Daniel CB 30 Derwin Gray SS 35 Steve Hall FS 39 Richard Jones CB 26 Dedric Mathis CB 40 Ray McElroy SS Special teams (ST) 83 Bradford Banta LS 14 Cary Blanchard K 17 Chris Gardocki P

Practice squad -- Shawn Banks LB 66 Steve Hardin G 27 Arnold Mickens RB Reserve 16 Avery Anderson WR (IR) 55 Quentin Coryatt LB (IR) 32 Zack Crockett FB (IR) 42 Roosevelt Potts RB(Susp.) 49 David Tate S (IR) 36 Damon Watts CB (IR) 94 David Wilkins DE (IR) 57 Phil Yeboah-Kodie LB (IR) Rookies in italics 53 active, 8 reserve, 3 practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game Site	TV Time (ET)	TV Announcers	Attendance
1	September 1	Arizona Cardinals	W 20–13	1–0	RCA Dome	FOX 1:00 pm	Kenny Albert & Tim Green	48,133
2	September 8	at New York Jets	W 21–7	2–0	The Meadowlands	NBC 1:00 pm	Tom Hammond & Bob Trumpy	63,534
3	September 15	at Dallas Cowboys	W 25–24	3–0	Texas Stadium	NBC 4:00 pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	63,021
4	September 23	Miami Dolphins	W 10–6	4–0	RCA Dome	ABC 9:00 pm	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford & Dan Dierdorf	60,891
5	Bye
6	October 6, 1996	at Buffalo Bills	L 13–16 (OT)	4–1	Rich Stadium	NBC 4:00 pm	Tom Hammond & Bob Trumpy	79,401
7	October 13	Baltimore Ravens	W 26–21	5–1	RCA Dome	TNT 8:00 pm	Verne Lundquist & Pat Haden	56,978
8	October 20	New England Patriots	L 9–27	5–2	RCA Dome	NBC 1:00 pm	Tom Hammond & Bob Trumpy	58,725
9	October 27	at Washington Redskins	L 16–31	5–3	RFK Stadium	NBC 1:00 pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	54,254
10	November 3	San Diego Chargers	L 19–26	5–4	RCA Dome	NBC 1:00 pm	Tom Hammond, Bob Trumpy & Sam Wyche	58,484
11	November 10	at Miami Dolphins	L 13–37	5–5	Joe Robbie Stadium	NBC 1:00 pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	66,623
12	November 17	New York Jets	W 34–29	6–5	RCA Dome	NBC 1:00 pm	Charlie Jones & Randy Cross	48,322
13	November 24	at New England Patriots	L 13–27	6–6	Foxboro Stadium	NBC 1:00 pm	Tom Hammond & Bob Trumpy	58,226
14	December 1	Buffalo Bills	W 13–10 (OT)	7–6	RCA Dome	NBC 1:00 pm	Marv Albert & Sam Wyche	53,804
15	December 5	Philadelphia Eagles	W 37–10	8–6	RCA Dome	ESPN 8:00 pm	Mike Patrick & Joe Theismann	52,689
16	December 15	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 24–19	9–6	Arrowhead Stadium	NBC 4:00 pm	Dan Hicks & Bob Trumpy	71,136
17	December 22	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 24–31	9–7	Cinergy Field	NBC 1:00 pm	Jim Lampley & Bob Golic	49,389
Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
(2) New England Patriots	11	5	0	.688	418	313	W1
(4) Buffalo Bills	10	6	0	.625	319	266	W1
(6) Indianapolis Colts	9	7	0	.563	317	334	L1
Miami Dolphins	8	8	0	.500	339	325	W2
New York Jets	1	15	0	.063	279	454	L7

Playoffs

The team received a Wild Card playoff berth to the playoffs and traveled to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers. The Colts came back from a 13-point lead in the first half but the Steelers scored 29 unanswered points in the second half and went on to beat the Colts.

Playoff Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Game Site	TV Time	Attendance
Wild Card	December 29, 1996	at Pittsburgh Steelers (3)	L 14–42	0–1	Three Rivers Stadium	NBC 12:30 pm	58,078

See also

• History of the Indianapolis Colts
• List of Indianapolis Colts seasons
• Colts–Patriots rivalry

References

1. Newell, Nat. "Every Indianapolis Colts season ranked by how disappointing it was". indystar.com. Retrieved June 14, 2025.