Why Baltimore Ravens Fans Hate Indianapolis Colts More Than the Pittsburgh Steelers

A hurting Baltimore Ravens outfit will be gearing up to play the Philip Rivers-led Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Both teams are on a 5-2 record heading into this Week 9 clash at the Lucas Oil Stadium. The Ravens suffered a disappointing 24-28 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last weekend.

Reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson will be looking to get back to winning ways against the Colts. Meanwhile, Rivers led the AFC South franchise to its 5th win of the season. The Colts beat Matthew Stafford’s Detroit Lions by a 21-41 scoreline.

John Harbaugh will lead his team against their AFC rivals. There is a rich cultural and historical background to this encounter. Good Morning Football’s Peter Schrager explains why.

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Peter Schrager sheds light on the Baltimore Ravens – Indianapolis Colts rivalry

On the latest segment of GMFB, co-host Peter Schrager dove into the detailed history behind the Baltimore Ravens – Indianapolis Colts rivalry.

In fact, the popular NFL analyst even suggested that the Colts are more despised by Ravens fans as compared to AFC North rivals, Pittsburgh Steelers.

“We talk about great rivalries all the time, and it’s usually division foes or the occasional quarterback matchup we do Eagles versus Cowboys and Seahawks vs. 49ers.

“Niners bears Packers, that will go into Brady versus Manning or Rogers versus Wilson but there may be no fan base that has much of an ax to grind with another franchise than the Ravens do with the Colts.”

“The younger generation of football fans may not realize the depth of these emotions from ravens fans the abandonment that hurt an entire generation that was robbed of football in their home city and all having happened in the darkness of night.

“Yes, once upon a time the Baltimore Colts were one of the NFL pillar franchises. The 58 NFL Championship game is known as the greatest game ever played.

“It was aired nationally on television and was one that defined a sport that long had been lurking in the shadows and in a secondary spot to baseball as America’s pastime. The Baltimore Colts had it all,” Schrager said on the show.

The journey from Baltimore Colts to present-day Baltimore Ravens

In addition to that, Schrager goes back to when there never was a Baltimore Ravens franchise. The great Johnny Unitas, considered as one of the greatest players to play in the NFL, played for the Baltimore Colts back in the 1960s.

“They (Baltimore Colts) had Unitas a legend. They also had that logo, those colors that band and names like Mackey Ameche, Berry, and Art Donovan.

“Don Shula, coach them and a young Bill Belichick grew up as a kid and Annapolis loving them. They’d go on to play in multiple Super Bowls winning 116 to 13 over the Cowboys in January of 1971.

“Then in the dead of night on March 28, 1984. The Colts packed up their Baltimore facility stuffed everything into a bunch of Mayflower moving trucks and quite literally left town owner Robert Ursa, despite numerous assurances that the team wasn’t going anywhere, struck a deal to move the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis, Indiana.

“More than a decade would pass and Baltimore had no NFL team. Entire Hall of Fame careers would come and go with the players having never stepped foot in the city of Baltimore.

“But Baltimore would eventually get a team after Carolina and Jacksonville did, of course, but called the Ravens after the Edgar Allan Poe poem.”

“And that first draft brought them Ray Lewis and before you know it, this ravens scene was pretty good. The Ravens would win a Super Bowl in just their fifth season as a franchise, and long before the Indianapolis Colts would even sniff one,” Schrager added.

Where do both these teams stand in 2020?

After almost 24 years since their establishment, the Ravens are now one of the best teams in the league. They have a veteran coach in the form of John Harbaugh.

WHat’s more, the likes of Mark Andrews, Marcus Peters, Willie Snead, and others to complement the dual-threat quarterback Lamar Jackson.

But after suffering their second loss of the season in Week 8, are the Ravens slowly beginning to crack?

“Yes, the faces have changed. It’s Philip Rivers, whose last playoff win ironically came in Baltimore when he and the Chargers upset the Ravens in the wild-card round a few years back, but it’s also Lamar Jackson, who for the first time in his pro career is hearing quite a bit of criticism coming off a last Sunday to the Steelers see this one is more than just some battle between two teams in the AFC.

“This one is for Unitas it’s for the Mayflower trucks. It’s for a generation of Baltimore sports fans who didn’t get to see their team play in their city on Sundays,” Schrager concluded.

The Colts have everything to fight for, heading into this blockbuster tie. If the Colts defense shuts down Jackson as the Steelers did, Rivers could fire the AFC South big boys to a memorable win on home turf.

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