Former Indianapolis Colts quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Jim Harbaugh sat down and reflected on the team's 1995 AFC Championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the process of Manning replacing Harbaugh as the team's quarterback.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — January 14, 1996, is a day that has lived in infamy for nearly 30 years for Indianapolis Colts fans.
It was the subject of a recent episode of "Peyton's Places," a show produced by Omaha Productions in which former Colts quarterback Peyton Manning visits different NFL-related locations and people.
In a recent episode of Season 5, Manning travels out to Southern California to meet with the quarterback that he replaced in Indianapolis, Jim Harbaugh, who is now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Manning and Harbaugh reflected on that fateful January day in Pittsburgh that nearly may have rewritten Colts history.
Since arriving in Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984, the Colts knew, at best, mediocrity, with just one playoff appearance leading into that afternoon. That 1995-96 season was a magical one, though.
Led by their fiery quarterback, Harbaugh, AKA "Captain Comeback," the "Cardiac Colts" went 9-7 in the regular season, with only three of the 16 games decided by more than one score.
When the postseason arrived, the Colts won decisively over the San Diego Chargers, 35-20, before eking out a narrow 10-7 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round. That set up a showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship at the famed Three Rivers Stadium.
The game was a low-scoring affair through the first three quarters, with the Steelers holding a slight 13-9 lead. However, each side would trade one more shot, as Harbaugh connected with Floyd Turner on a 47-yard touchdown pass to take a 16-13 lead midway through the fourth quarter before the Steelers scored the go-ahead one-yard touchdown run with 1:34 left in the game to make it 20-16.
Captain Comeback had one more chance to lead his Cardiac Colts to victory, in what would mean a Super Bowl appearance against the dynastic Dallas Cowboys.
After the kickoff, the Colts' offense took over at their own 16-yard line with 1:30 remaining.
In eight plays, converting a third down and a fourth down along the way, Harbaugh got the Colts down to Pittsburgh's 29-yard line before spiking the ball to kill the clock with just five seconds left.
Needing a touchdown, Harbaugh heaved the ball into the right side of the end zone, with a few Colts in the area and even more Steelers.
The ball bounced off of Colts receiver Aaron Bailey's hands, as he and the ball then began falling to the ground. The ball founds its way to Bailey again on the ground as he grabbed for it, but it ultimately rolled off of him and onto the ground as he attempted to secure it.
Colts lose. Steelers win. The magical season that nearly resulted in the franchise's first trip to the Super Bowl since 1971 was now over.
"Speaking of mysteries trying to solve, Aaron Bailey, that seemed like a catch on that Hail Mary," Manning said to Harbaugh. "How was that not a catch?"
"Aaron Bailey, he went up. Must have been five or six Steelers around him, and he gets his hands on the ball, he's pulling it in. He hit the ground. It just slightly rolled off," Harbaugh replayed aloud.
A clip from the episode of "Peyton's Places" then shifts to the process of Manning replacing Harbaugh as the Colts' signal caller.
"It wasn't a broken heart, but a broken hand that ended Jim's time in Indianapolis," Manning narrated, referencing an altercation that Harbaugh had with NBC broadcaster Jim Kelly in a pregame production meeting in which Harbaugh felt his toughness had been questioned by Kelly earlier in the week.
After losing the four games in which Harbaugh missed due to his injury, the Colts secured the first overall pick in the following draft.
Then-Colts owner Jim Irsay hired Bill Polian as the new general manager of the team, who informed Harbaugh that they'd be moving in a different direction at quarterback.
Polian ultimately selected Manning with the first pick to create the most significant era in franchise history.
Jake Arthur has been covering the Indianapolis Colts for over a dozen years and is a member of the PFWA. He's one half of the Locked On Colts podcast and has worked for the Colts' official website, On SI, and more. You can follow him on X @JakeArthurNFL.