Peyton Manning compares Lions to 2005 Colts: 'We did win the whole thing the next year'

After the best regular season in franchise history, the Detroit Lions stumbled in the playoffs, losing their divisional round matchup to the Washington Commanders in a shocking upset. The season felt like one big missed opportunity for the Lions, but Peyton Manning has offered the franchise and its fans some hope.

Prior to the "Night of Champions" in Indianapolis, where the Colts celebrated their Super Bowl XLI team, Manning spoke to the Indianapolis Star about the parallels between that team and the Lions. Manning revealed he sent Detroit coach Dan Campbell a text after the team's 45-31 loss to Washington.

The message from Manning was to simply stay the course.

"I said, 'I know how you feel, I've been there, and it's not a good feeling,'" Manning said. "'Understand that, but we did win the whole thing the next year.' You just kind of keep sawing wood."

In the Colts' 2005 season, they finished 14-2 and went into the playoffs as a Super Bowl favorite. Then, in the divisional round, Indianapolis suffered a massive upset at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After that loss, the Colts could have made sweeping changes, but they chose to give that group another chance. It would prove to be the right decision as Indianapolis won Super Bowl XLI the following season.

"We'd been knocking on the door, and we were coming close," Manning said. "We were obviously doing something right. Just needed to do a little bit more, and 'Finish' kind of became the theme of that season."

While there will certainly be some changes to the Lions' roster this offseason, as is the case with all 32 teams, they will likely enter the 2025 season as Super Bowl contenders once again. Can they follow in the 2006 Colts' footsteps and finish what they started the year before?