The decisions over the next few months will likely shape the future of the Colts’ organization for years, but what happens next is anybody’s guess.

“There is no sugar-coating the fact that there are areas of talent that we need,” Irsay said. “The decisions that are coming up are crucial, and obviously, when you’re looking at a general manager, a head coach, having the No. 1 pick in the draft and knowing that you’re rebuilding in some areas, that is about as massive as it gets.”

As usual, all things in Indy start with Manning.

Irsay must decide whether to pay the four-time league MVP a $28 million bonus in March, allow him to walk away as a free agent or redo the five-year, $90 million contract to make it more salary-cap friendly.

Manning missed the entire season after having his latest neck surgery Sept. 8 — a procedure that has clouded his future in Indianapolis. Without him, the Colts collapsed, missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade and winning the Andrew Luck sweepstakes with a 2-14 mark.

Though Manning has started throwing with teammates and players believe Manning is improving, Irsay must determine whether it’s worth taking a significant cap hit to rebuild around a 35-year-old quarterback who has had neck surgery three times in less than 24 months. If he is healthy, a big if, Irsay has promised to bring back Manning and make another Super Bowl run.

“I think the key thing for me has always been, and particularly since the fusion, is it safe for him to go on the field? Is it something where he is healthy enough to resume his career, to go on the field and play at a high level but also to be in harm’s way in the physical game that we have?” Irsay said. “What he means to the franchise, what he means to the Colts and to the league, (his health) to me always has been the most important decision.”

Irsay said he plans to meet with Manning within the next week, and those answers could dictate which direction the Colts go in 2012.

Manning has good reasons to want Caldwell back. Aside from the franchise quarterback, Caldwell and offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen understand this offense better than anyone, and Caldwell helped Manning achieve his greatest successes. Before Caldwell became quarterbacks coach in 2002, Manning was an elite player with a losing record in the playoffs. With Caldwell, Manning won all four of his MVP awards, two AFC crowns and his only Super Bowl ring.

But there’s no assurance any of the coaches will be back next season. Receiver Pierre Garcon summed up the uncertainty best on Twitter when he posted this: “So what happens now?”

For Caldwell and the coaches, it’s business as usual.

Note: The opinions expressed here are my takes on each player’s individual matchup. As always, use your best judgment and conduct your own research on who to start or bench each week. You know your individual team and/or league situation better than anyone else.

Dan Orlovsky, QB

Averaging just 14.70 fantasy points per game in the last four weeks, Orlovsky is not the fantasy quarterback you want on your team leading you in the playoffs. He scored just 8.44 fantasy points last week against the Baltimore Ravens but looks to have a better matchup this week against the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee is giving up 15.54 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks this season but even if he were to hit his average, confidence is low during the playoffs when solid games are necessary.

Donald Brown, RB

Averaging 9.80 fantasy points per game in the last four weeks, Brown has been a surprise performer for owners in deeper leagues. He had a tough game against the Ravens last week scoring only 2.20 fantasy points but looks to rebound this week against the Titans. Tennessee is allowing 18.41 fantasy points per game to running backs this season but much like Orlovsky, my confidence in him during the playoffs is slim. RB Joseph Addai is also back in action but remains unreliable for the rest of the season.

Reggie Wayne, WR

Averaging 9.30 fantasy points per game in the last four weeks, Wayne remains one Indianapolis Colts player I am confident in throughout the fantasy playoffs. He scored just 4.10 fantasy points last week against a tough Ravens team but looks to rebound this week against the Titans. Tennessee is giving up 17.61 fantasy points per game to wide receivers this season, so while he is not expected to have a huge game, he is a reliable No. 3 receiver this week.

Pierre Garcon, WR

Averaging 11.70 fantasy points per game in the last four weeks, Garcon is undoubtedly the best fantasy player on the Colts’ team. While he scored only 4.60 fantasy points last week against the Ravens, he has a good matchup against the Titans and remains Orlovsky’s top target. His risk lies only in the fact Orlovsky is under center.

Jacob Tamme, TE

Both Tamme and TE Dallas Clark should not be given any consideration during the fantasy playoffs. While Tamme did score 7.30 fantasy points last week, it was due to a single 13-yard touchdown reception.

Adam Vinatieri, K

Averaging just 5.50 fantasy pointsper game in the last four weeks, Vinatieri is best suited on the waiver wire for the remainder of the season. It is sad for a kicker who has had such a great career, but history does not translate into fantasy points when gunning for a league championship.

Defense

Averaging 4.30 fantasy points per game in the last four weeks, the Colts’ team defense belongs on the waiver wire with Vinatieri for the remainder of the season.

Sources:

All data provided by Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football

Paul Rados is an avid fantasy football participant and a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook. For a complete look at his freelance work please visit his Blog.

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If Peyton Manning was playing football this season, the Baltimore Ravens would be talking about the importance of ending an eight-game losing streak against the Indianapolis Colts and their esteemed quarterback.

The Colts don’t have Manning, or even a single victory. So the Ravens are approaching Sunday’s game with caution, because they know all about the danger of facing a winless team this late in the season.

In 2007, the Miami Dolphins were 0-13 before Cleo Lemon connected with Greg Camarillo on a 64-yard touchdown pass in overtime for a 22-16 victory. It turned out to be Miami’s only win of the season.

This Baltimore team is far superior to that one, but the memory of that embarrassing defeat still lingers among those Ravens who played that day.

Asked if there was concern about playing the winless Colts, linebacker Terrell Suggs replied, “Yeah, because I lost to an O-fer team. A little slant route got us. This is the NFL, and (the Colts) are professionals. We expect them to line up and come up in here and play. They are just as big a threat to us as if we were playing anybody else.”

That loss to Miami was the lowlight of a season during which the Ravens finished 5-11. Head coach Brian Billick was fired soon after the final game, and owner Steve Bisciotti hired John Harbaugh to bring the team back into prominence.

Harbaugh has done exactly that. Baltimore reached the playoffs in each of his first three seasons, and this year the Ravens (9-3) are poised to capture the AFC North title and perhaps the top seed in the conference.

The absolute last thing the Ravens need is to lose at home against the struggling Colts (0-12).

“We have to win the football game to achieve what we want to do,” Suggs said.

What the Colts want to do is avoid becoming the second team in NFL history to finish 0-16. Playing without Manning, who’s missed the entire season with a neck injury, has been far too big an obstacle to overcome.

“Obviously, you don’t want to ever have a season this,” Indianapolis defensive end Dwight Freeney said. “Us especially, we are not used to this at all. We are used to making the playoffs nine years straight and all that. Winning records, and all of that. This is definitely a different feeling.”

Making up for the loss of Manning was tough enough, but the Colts also have been without linebacker Gary Brackett (shoulder) since the first week of the season, and safety Melvin Bullitt (shoulder) played in only the first two games.

“We’ve lost a lot of key guys at a lot of key positions,” Freeney said.

If the Colts are to pull off a monumental upset, they must duplicate some of their previous performances against the Ravens. Although Manning was certainly a factor in helping Indy go 8-0 against Baltimore since 2001, the defense was most responsible. The Colts haven’t given up a touchdown to the Ravens in three straight games, the last one a 20-3 win in the 2009 playoffs.

With Freeney on one end and Robert Mathis on the other, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco knows he won’t have the luxury of dropping back into the pocket and casually surveying the field.

“They have a lot of pursuit,” Flacco said. “They react to the ball quickly, and they’ve kept us out of the end zone because of that.” The Colts have also been tough against the run. Baltimore running back Ray Rice got 23 yards rushing in 2008, 71 in a regular-season game in 2009 and 67 in that aforementioned postseason defeat.

“That defense is very fast. We have not fared well against them,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve turned the ball over, we didn’t run the ball on them, we’ve gotten sacked, we’ve had plays for negative yards. It’s been a theme against that defense. So we’ve got our work cut out for us. We understand that.”

The biggest thing the Ravens have going for them is playing at home, where they’re 6-0 this season and have won 16 of 17. Baltimore will probably play a fourth straight game without injured middle linebacker Ray Lewis (right toe), but the league’s third-ranked defense is still plenty good enough to contain Dan Orlovsky, the Colts’ third different starting quarterback this season.

Most of all, the Ravens know they have to win to stay on course for the postseason.

“We know what we’re playing for. We know what they’re playing for,” Suggs said. “They are trying to get their first win; we are trying to pile these wins up and go on a playoff run. That’s what is most important to us. Here they come. Let’s do it.”

I got quite a few e-mails this week from Ravens fans who say they’re worried about Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.

My favorite was from someone we’ll call Rick in Glen Burnie. Rick made the Colts sound like a team that, if not for a few bad breaks, should be playing in the Super Bowl. I could almost hear the poor guy hyperventilating over the keyboard.

Look how well the Colts played against New England last week, he wrote.

Look how they came back from being down 31-3 in the fourth quarter to make a game of it. Look at the game quarterback Dan Orlovsky had (30-for-37 passing for 353 yards and two touchdowns).

By the time Rick was through, I had to look up the NFL standings to make sure the Colts were still 0-12 and the front-runners for the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes.

“This is a trap game,” Rick concluded. “If the Ravens can lose to Tennessee, Jacksonville and Seattle, they can lose to the Colts.”

Rick, Rick, Rick — talk about a guy getting worked up for nothing.

Know the old saying about how on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team?

Well, that doesn’t apply to the Colts. At least not this year’s Colts without Peyton Manning.

No, the old saying that applies to them now is: On any given Sunday, the Colts will look awful and you can pencil them in for an “L” right now.

Is that too harsh? Maybe. But unless the Ravens have 45 guys throw out their backs at game time, there’s no way they lose to the Colts.

For one thing, unlike the Patriots, the Ravens have a great defense. They rank third in the league in overall “D.” They rank fourth in points allowed per game (16.0). And they lead the league in sacks (41) and forced fumbles (16).

With or without linebacker Ray Lewis in the lineup — and there’s no way he plays Sunday — the Ravens’ defense still scares other teams.

It still pounds opponents into submission. If the Ravens’ defenders get after Orlovsky the way they got after the Cleveland Browns’ Colt McCoy last week, Orlovsky will have nightmares about this day for years.

Here’s another reason the Ravens won’t lose: They’ve always been tough down the stretch when they can smell the playoffs.

Since John Harbaugh took over as coach in 2008, they’re an NFL-best 24-9 in November, December and January.

Oh, sure, there were days this week when the Ravens seemed bored and the locker room wasn’t exactly crackling with intensity. You knew it wasn’t Steelers week, that’s for sure.

But when they come out of that tunnel Sunday and the crowd roars and the whistle blows, it’ll be all business again for this team — the business of securing home-field advantage for the playoffs.

Which brings us to the third reason they won’t lose: The game is here at the Bank. And the Ravens, to a man, get super jacked up to play in front of the home crowd.

Just two seasons ago, the Indianapolis Colts made it all the way through Christmas with an unblemished 14-0 regular season record, leading many to believe that the team could make history with a perfect season.

Now the team is attracting attention for just the opposite reason. But just as the 2009 Colts did not win every game (they lost its final two regular season games as well as the Super Bowl to the New Orleans Saints), the probability of the Colts not winning a game this season remains low. According to AccuScore, the Colts have just a 2.2 % chance of going 0-16.

The Indianapolis Colts are in the exact opposite situation of the Packers. The Colts are winless in their first eight games and ranked offensively and defensively in the bottom third of the league. After another big loss Sunday, Indianapolis has a 0-percent chance of winning the division or making the playoffs. They have a better chance of losing every game this season at 2.2 percent. That percentage is low thanks to upcoming games against two of the worst teams in the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers.

Keep the good news coming!