Here's the question nobody wants to consider, but must contemplate as the Texans come to town: Will Sunday mark Reggie Wayne's last regular-season home as a Colt and as an NFL player?
I am hesitant to speculate too deeply because I haven't broached the subject just yet with Wayne – he talks on Fridays – and I have too much respect for him to tell him what he should be doing with his life.
That said, it's clear that Wayne has been thinking long and hard about the subject. He's 36 years old. He's coming off major knee surgery. He's dealing with an elbow injury and a torn triceps. And his production has bottomed out since the elbow/triceps injury he suffered against Cincinnati, just eight catches for 41 yards in his last three games. Keep this is mind, too: He's in the last year of his contract, and has made it clear he will play no place other than Indianapolis.
"I guess I'm mortal, man," Wayne told me as he sat by his locker in Cleveland Sunday. "Just like everybody else, I'm mortal."
This much I know: Father Time is undefeated in the National Football League.
I saw it happen with John Elway. I saw it happen with Marvin Harrison. One day, they are at the very heights of their powers, doing magical things on a football field, and then, just as suddenly, they are ghosts. I fear, too, that it's happening to Wayne.
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I will not be presumptuous and write a click-baiting column saying that Wayne must retire when the season is over. In the end, that's his decision (and the Colts' decision). Only Wayne knows whether this is an injury-inspired aberration or whether this is just the current state of his abilities. Only Wayne knows whether he has something left to give this organization, or whether he feels like it's time to make room for the "Next One," namely Donte Moncrief.
All I know, and all I think Wayne knows, is that he isn't right. I've never seen him play a game like he did Sunday. Ever. He described his performance accurately. "I played like (bleep)."
"Can you ever remember that many drops in a game?" I asked him Sunday.
He paused, thought about it. "Honestly, I can't," he said. "Not really."
He wasn't brooding, wasn't upset at the line of questioning from a reporter who's been around him for more than a decade. If anything he was rueful, laughing about his own follies, because when you're one of the all-time greats and you have a day like that one, what else can you do but laugh it off?
I asked Chuck Pagano Monday whether Wayne's recent struggles are a byproduct of the injuries.
"You know what, he battles every week, coming back from the knee, the elbow, a lot of nagging stuff that's difficult for anybody to deal with, so is it (the fall-off in production) of that (the injuries), would I say no to that? No, I wouldn't," he said. "There's something there because we know the player Reggie is and how he contributes and how he can make the clutch catch and all those things. He had a tough day. And there's a lot of guys who had tough days."
My fear, though, is we are reading the last chapter in a magnificent novel. It's a book you never wanted to put down.
I asked Pagano, "How much does Reggie have left?"
He squirmed, hesitated. "How much? I'm not Nostradamus. I don't know. I don't know. I know he's got more. How much that is, I don't know, but I know that he's got more. And he'll deliver and he'll be back."
Of course, this isn't all Wayne's decision. General manager Ryan Grigson will have plenty to say about it, too. My sense is that if Chuck Pagano was making the call, his sentimentality and close relationship with Wayne would steer his decision, but Grigson is steely-eyed, and has shown no hesitation when showing life-long Colts the door in the past.
If you're Grigson, and Wayne continues to struggle as he has this last month, do you bring him back for one more year – assuming, of course, that Wayne even wants to come back? Do you bring back Wayne when Moncrief is starting to show signs he can be a starting wide receiver? It's a tough, tough call. Wayne means, and has meant, that much to this organization, not only on the field, but in the locker room, in meeting rooms, in the community. He is one of those Forever Colts, a man who is going to finish and start his career with one organization.
But Wayne has three young kids, and he's already missing football games and other events. Family life beckons. Normalcy beckons. And those injuries…man, those injuries. When do you stop fighting your body?
And now it's fair to ask the question: Does it make sense to shut Wayne down until the playoffs, let the injuries heal for the game, or games, that really count?
I say it does.
Pagano reverted back to coach-speak when asked if that was a possibility.
"We'll do whatever gives us the best chance to win and obviously, what's best for the player," he said.
Well, that clears that up.
For the first time now, there are questions about Wayne's football mortality. These aren't just questions that are coming from over-caffeinated fans or from annoying media who see the dip in his production and wonder about his immediate and long-term future. These are questions he's asking himself.
Somehow, I know Wayne will do the right thing, whatever that is, because he's been doing the right thing since he entered this league.
Just in case, save one last, loud cheer for Reggie come Sunday.
He's earned it.