It’s a tough time to be an  Indianapolis Colts fan, as the season could be over before it even gets started. As of Saturday, Aug. 24, starting quarterback Andrew Luck made one of the hardest decisions of his life and announced that he will step away from football and retire. 

Stepping away from a game you love so much can be crushing. It also takes a lot of courage to do so, especially after such a short time. Luck had to make the decision to either continue to play the game he loves or preserve his healing body so his life outside of football isn’t so injury-filled. Over the course of Luck’s career, he sustained four different injuries in the last four seasons. 

His 2015 season ended short with a lacerated kidney and partially torn abdominal muscle. In 2016, he missed a couple weeks because of a torn cartilage and a concussion. And in 2017, Luck sustained his worst injury by far when he missed the entire season due to a shoulder surgery. 

In the 2018 NFL season, he finally made it through an entire year without sustaining significant injury. It also turned out to be a record breaking year for Luck, having completed a career high of 67.3% of his passes for 4,593 yards. Just when Luck thought he had made it through the storm of repeated injuries, he suffered a calf strain in his right leg. He was forced to sit out during most of Organized Team Activities (OTA) and the injury even continued to bother him during training camp. 

Having just one big injury can have a big mental impact on anyone, so imagine having four in a row like Luck has had. All the rehab and doctor visits can leave an athlete feeling helpless in the mists of chaos.

So do I blame Luck for retiring? Absolutely not. I’ll also add that every Colts fan that booed Luck when he announced his retirement should be ashamed of themselves. Being the predecessor to Peyton Manning isn’t an easy job, those are big shoes to fill. So for what he’s done for the Colt’s organization, I personally would like to say. Thank you Andrew Luck. 

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Reach Damien Funnell at [email protected].