The Colts will open their season without the help of Andrew Luck.
Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard announced Monday that the team's starting quarterback will not suit up for Sunday's regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, adding that "no timetable" exists for Luck's return.
The decision comes as no great surprise to Colts fans. Still on the mend from offseason shoulder surgery, Luck has been a ghost all summer, missing all of training camp and the entire preseason.
Colts owner Jim Irsay prefaced Monday's confirmation by saying Thursday night of Luck that "the odds are most likely he probably won't open up against the Rams."
In his place, backup Scott Tolzien will make the start against Los Angeles, an ominous scenario after the overwhelmed quarterback struggled mightily from wire-to-wire during the preseason.
"At this point, it is too early to tell whether or not Andrew Luck will be on the field Week 2, Week 3, maybe Week 4," NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on NFL Total Access on Monday. "There certainly are people who believe this could stretch into October, and the reason why is all along, the Colts have made sure to be very cautious regarding the future of their quarterback, his right shoulder and just making sure that whatever happens, they don't have to deal with Luck shoulder injuries ever again if they can handle it.
"Too often, he has played through injuries too often over the last two years. Too much over the last two years he has gone out there less than 100 percent. They want to exercise caution to make sure that when he is ready, he is really fully ready, so yes, it is a possibility, maybe even a strong possibility that Scott Tolzien gets more than one start, maybe even more than two or three starts."
The team also acquired quarterback Jacoby Brissett from New England in exchange for wideout Phillip Dorsett, but Ballard weighed in Monday, saying: "It's Tolzien's job [for now], because Brissett has to get up to speed."
The first-year general manager went on to call Brissett more of a "long-term" option for the club, but Colts fans don't want to see any of these arms in Sunday's opener.
Battling backups is a disastrous way to open the year. The hope for Indianapolis is that Luck -- recently activated off the physically unable to perform list -- will make his debut in Week 2 against the Cardinals.
Any further delay could spell doom for a Colts team that floated through August as one of the least-inspiring operations league-wide.
