INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts would define perfection as winning a Super Bowl title. Anything more would be a bonus.

But with five weeks left in the regular season, the Colts’ arduous, three-decade quest to return to the Super Bowl now carries an added burden – trying to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only unbeaten teams in NFL history.

Forget that the Colts are already 11-0, could clinch the AFC South title in the next two weeks and may soon wrap up a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The big question now around Indy – and the NFL – is whether anyone can beat this team.

Coach Tony Dungy wants everyone to keep things in perspective.

“Hopefully we win the next two because that means we will wrap up the division,” he said Tuesday. “If we win them, we know there will be a lot of talk about Can you go undefeated?’ But that’s never really been our goal.”

What the Colts have demonstrated through September, October and November is that they can win games in almost every conceivable fashion.

Shut down Manning and the offense, and Indy can win the slugfest. Force the Colts into a shootout, and they’ll score more points. Take the lead, early or late, and the Colts can rally. And if an opponent dares the Colts to protect a lead, they’ve proven they can run out the clock.

“It’s a matter of it all coming together at the right time,” running back Edgerrin James said.

How good are the Colts?

Indy hasn’t trailed in a game since Oct. 17, the offense has averaged nearly 36 points in the last eight games and the defense has allowed an AFC-low 159 points.

On Monday, former Bears and Saints coach Mike Ditka said on a national radio talk show that this offense was the best he’d ever seen. Last week, Don Shula, architect of the Dolphins team that went 17-0, said he believed the Colts could continue knocking off challengers.

“As long as they stay healthy, I think they’ve got a great shot at it,” Shula said.

Over the past four weeks, the Colts also have demonstrated their mettle by knocking off three of the conference’s top contenders – winning at two-time defending Super Bowl champ New England and AFC North leader Cincinnati before taking out Pittsburgh 26-7 on Monday night.

That also meant exorcising some old demons.

The victory over the Patriots was Indy’s first in Foxborough since 1995, and Monday night’s victory ended a 21-year drought against the Steelers.

Those victories have essentially eliminated all three teams from the home-field chase. That makes the Denver Broncos (9-2) the only serious contender to force the Colts out of the RCA Dome in January, when Indianapolis has been most vulnerable playing outdoors in the cold.

For now, though, it means little to the Colts, who can wrap up their third straight AFC South title with two more wins – at home Sunday against Tennessee and at Jacksonville on Dec. 11.

“We want to see if we can get that done,” Dungy said. “So our focus is winning the first one. This is a very critical two-week stretch for us.”

While others debate which team could derail the Colts’ historic quest, staying unbeaten is not what motivates Indianapolis.

“We just need to take this step and move forward,” defensive tackle Corey Simon said after the Steelers game. “We can’t rest our head on what we did this week and then go out next week and not play well. We need to continue to improve.”

After Tennessee and Jacksonville, the Colts have a dangerous game against San Diego, which is making a late-season push for the playoffs. It also happens to fall between an emotional contest against the Jaguars and what will likely be hyped as a Super Bowl preview at Seattle on Dec. 24.

They finish at home against Arizona, and then the Colts can finally focus on the games they’ve been craving since last January.

“I was talking to (Pittsburgh coach) Bill Cowher about it last night, and he said We went 15-1 last year and no one really cares,”‘ Dungy said. “It would be an honor, it would be special to go undefeated, but it won’t mean anything if you don’t win in the playoffs.”

So Manning, the two-time MVP, and his teammates find themselves in an unusual position. Fourteen or 15 wins would assure the Colts of not playing outdoors after Dec. 24. But anything less than 16-0 may not satisfy critics.

So the Colts will focus on their stated goal of winning the Super Bowl and let others debate the definition of a perfect season.

“Going undefeated has never been our goal,” Dungy said. “The teams that get remembered are not the ones who have great regular seasons, they are the ones who do something in the playoffs.”

AP-ES-11-29-05 1734EST

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