11 and 0 and Five to Go; Who Will Be Left Standing?

Just five games remain in the NFL regular season, and yet we stand here today with two teams still undefeated, a feat that has never before been accomplished in the NFL. Throw the arguments about parity in the NFL out the window for a minute and ask yourself this question:

"How amazing would it be for both the Colts and the Saints to join New England as the only teams to finish a regular season at 16-0?!"

Better yet, ask yourself how cool it would be for both teams to come into the Super Bowl undefeated, knowing one will carry the glory and one will fall short, just as those same Patriots did.

Both the Colts and the Saints have survived tough tests and scares against both the best and worst the NFL has to offer, another trait they hold in common with the 2007 Patriots. Still, both of these teams are hitting their strides, and have a realistic chance of finishing the regular season unblemished. Let's take a look at the remaining Schedule for both squads going into the final weeks and see who has the more realistic chance.

Indianapolis Colts - Remaining Schedule

Tennessee Titans 5-6

Denver Broncos 7-4

Jacksonville Jaguars 6-5

New York Jets 5-6

Buffalo Bills 4-7

Combined 27-28

As you can see from the table above, the Colts have two major hurdles to overcome in their quest to stay undefeated. Most notable among their remaining opponents are the resurgent Titans, who the Colts play next week, and the Broncos come to town the following week, with both games being played in Indy. The Titans have won five in a row after making a change at Quarterback from Kerry Collins to Vince Young, but in all likelihood, don't have the kind of defense to shut down the Colts offense. The Broncos have the defense to get the job done, and they play the type of offense that could control the clock and keep the Indy offense off the field, which gives them as much a chance as any team to make it happen. After that, match-ups with the Jags, Jets, and Bills don't appear to offer much of a challenge for Indianapolis.

New Orleans Saints

Washington Redskins 3-8

Atlanta Falcons 6-5

Dallas Cowboys 8-3

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1-10

Carolina Panthers 4-7

Combined 22-33

The Saints have a much easier road to glory to travel, as their remaining opponents exhibit a combined winning percentage of .400. Still, like the Colts, they have two real tests ahead of them in a week 14 match-up with the Falcons and a game at home against the Cowboys the following week. The Atlanta game is a real head-scratcher though, as they are a completely different team with Matt Ryan on the bench. He's only supposed to miss one week, which means he should be on the field for the New Orleans game, but how effective he will be is to be decided. Then we have the Cowboys. Dallas is a team that could hang with the Saints offensively, and also give them fits with constant pressure on Brees. However, they are also a team that could not show up at all and get blown off the scoreboard. Aside from those two, there is the possibility of a trap game against Carolina, who could grind out the clock on the Saints using their tandom running backs. However, as evidenced this past week, Carolina also lacks leadership at quarterback and is prone to turnovers.

So in the end, both teams have a fairly open road to travel if they want to finish the regular season undefeated. In comparison, the Saints have the easier one to navigate although the Colts remaining schedule is misconstrued by a couple of teams who had early season success only to fall back. Five games for each with five chances. The only question left is who has enough left in the tank to get them there.

Sources:

NFL Standings, NFL.com

Saints Schedule, NFL.com

Colts Schedule, NFL.com

Two 11-0 Teams in NFL, WikiAnswers.com