In 1985, the museum was designated by Baltimore mayor William Donald Schaefer as the official archives of the Baltimore Colts, which had moved the previous year to Indianapolis.

As a result, Chicago's club nickname transitioned, and by 1890 they had become known as the Chicago Colts, or sometimes " Anson's Colts ," referring to Cap's influence within the club.

By early 1984, after the Colts ' lease on the dilapidated 64, 124 seat Memorial Stadium had expired, Irsay wanted the city of Baltimore to upgrade the stadium or build a new one.

Nonetheless, many of the prominent old-time Colts, many of whom had settled in the Baltimore area, were bitter and chose to cut all ties to the relocated Colts team.

Although the white jerseys of the Minnesota Vikings at the time also had a similar striping pattern and continued as such ( as well as the throwbacks the New England Patriots wore in the Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions in 2002, though the Patriots later wore the same throwbacks in 2009 with truncated stripes and in 2010 became their official alternate uniform ), the Colts and most college teams with this striping pattern did not make this adjustment.

During the team's time in Baltimore, the Colts had the Baltimore Colts ' Marching Band, which was left behind when the team moved to Indianapolis.

Up until the Colts ' back-to-back titles, the Giants had been the premier club in the NFL, and would continue to be post-season stalwarts the next decade losing three straight finals.

Shula had coached the Colts the previous seven pre-merger seasons ( 1963 – 9 ) and was signed by Joe Robbie after the merger was consummated ; because the signing came after the merger the NFL's rules on tampering came into play, and the Dolphins had to give up their first-round pick to the Colts.

The two then met in the wild-card round where the Dolphins won 23 – 17 before being blown out by Oakland 27 – 0 ( the Colts themselves had suffered a bitter loss to the Raiders in Week Two of the season when the Raiders erased a 24-7 gap to win 38-31 ).

The 2008 season saw the two teams meet twice again ; on November 23 the two teams battled to a 20-20 tie until Vinatieri booted a 51-yard field goal on the final play and a 23-20 Colts win ; the Colts surged to 12-4 but lost the AFC South title to the Titans ; they thus had to travel to meet the 8-8 Chargers on January 3.

The region had not possessed a professional football team since the days of the Miami Seahawks, who played in the All-America Football Conference in 1946 before becoming the first incarnation of the Baltimore Colts.

Shula was a former Paul Brown disciple who had been lured from the Baltimore Colts after first losing Super Bowl III two seasons earlier to the AFL's New York Jets and finishing 8 – 5 – 1 the following season.

By contrast, the Indianapolis Colts — among the most successful franchises in any sport during the 2000s with quarterback Peyton Manning — had a 2-14 record in 2011 because of injuries that prevented Manning from playing.

The Baltimore Colts had won the 1958 and 1959 NFL championships under Coach Weeb Ewbank.

The Colts finished a distant second in the West to the Packers in 1966, and in 1967, with the NFL divided into four divisions of four teams each, went undefeated with two ties through their first 13 games, but lost the game and the Coastal Division championship to the Los Angeles Rams on the final Sunday of the season — under newly-instituted tiebreakers, Los Angeles won the division championship as it had better net points in the two games the teams played ( the Rams win and an earlier tie ).

The Colts had won ten games in a row, including four shutouts, and finished the season with an NFL-best 13 – 1 record.

Behind him, the Colts had 2 outstanding linebackers: Pro Bowler Mike Curtis, who recorded 5 interceptions, and Ted Hendricks.

The Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984 and have since appeared in the playoffs fourteen times, with two conference championships and one Super Bowl championship coming against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

Following the two championships in 1958 and 1959, the Colts did not return to the NFL Championship for four seasons and saw a transition from head coach Ewbank to a young Don Shula in 1963.

The result of the game was surprising to many in the sports media as Joe Namath and Matt Snell led Jets to the Super Bowl victory, under head coach Weeb Ewbank, who won two NFL Championships with the Colts.

Upon the Colts arrival in Indianapolis over 143, 000 requests for season tickets were received in just two weeks.

After two consecutive playoff appearance, the Colts would regress and go 3 – 13 during the 1997 season.

The Colts would lose to the New England Patriots and Tom Brady in the 2003 AFC Championship Game and the 2004 divisional playoffs beginning a rivalry between the two team, and more importantly between Manning and Brady.

Following two consecutive playoff losses to the Patriots, the Colts began the 2005 season with a 13 – 0 record, including a regular season victory over the Patriots, the first in the Manning era.

The Colts won their first two playoff games against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens to return to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since the 2003 game, and they would face the same opponent in the New England Patriots.

The Colts won the next three matches, notching two regular season victories and a win in the 2006 AFC Championship game on the way to their win in Super Bowl XLI.

The two teams met twice a year ( interrupted in 1982 by a player strike ) 1970 – 2001 ; with the move of the Colts to the AFC South the two teams ' rivalry actually escalated, as they met three times in the playoffs in the South's first nine seasons of existence ; the Jets crushed the Colts 41 – 0 in the 2002 Wild Card playoff round ; the Colts then defeated the Jets 30 – 17 in the 2009 AFC Championship Game ; but the next year in the Wild Card round the Jets pulled off another playoff upset of the Colts, winning 17 – 16 ; it was Peyton Manning's final playoff game with the Colts.

In 1995, now as Indianapolis, the two both posted borderline 9 – 7 records to tie for second against Buffalo, yet the Colts once again reached the post-season having swept the season series.

In 2002 the Colts moved to the newly created AFC South division ; the two clubs met at the RCA Dome on September 15 where the Dolphins edged the Colts 21-13 after stopping a late Colts drive.

# Linebacker Chuck Howley – Super Bowl V – Howley was named the MVP for Super Bowl V despite the Cowboys ' loss to the Baltimore Colts.

However, in 1968 the Colts returned with the continued leadership of Unitas and Shula and went onto win the Colts ' third NFL Championship and made an appearance in Super Bowl III.

Leading up to the Super Bowl and following the 34 – 0 trouncing of the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Championship, many were calling the 1968 Colts team one of the " greatest pro football teams of all time " and were favored by 18 points against their counterparts from the American Football League, the New York Jets.

The Colts, however, were stunned by the Jets who won the game 16 – 7 in the first Super Bowl victory for the young AFL.

The victory gave the Colts their fourth NFL championship and first Super Bowl victory.

The Colts won their first postseason game as the Indianapolis Colts in 1995 and would go onto the AFC Championship Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, coming Hail Mary pass reception away from a trip to the Super Bowl XXX.

The 2006 Indianapolis Colts honored at the White House for their Super Bowl victory.

The Colts faced the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl and would go onto win the game 29 – 17, giving Manning, Polian, Irsay and Dungy their first Super Bowl title, as well as the first title for the city of Indianapolis.

Following their Super Bowl championship, the Colts would go onto a 13 – 3 record during the 2007 season and would lose to the San Diego Chargers in the divisional playoffs, which would be the final game the Colts played at the RCA Dome, with the Colts moving into Lucas Oil Stadium in 2008.

The Colts managed victories over the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets to advance to Super Bowl XLIV against the New Orleans Saints.

Super Bowl III became the most famous upset in pro sports history as the American Football League's New York Jets won 16 – 7 over the overwhelmingly-favored Colts.

* 1969 – The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.