Each year entering the Super Bowl, each team is analyzed and criticized by national media who may or may not know the team's storylines. Hence, with the national media preparing to spend the week analyzing the teams playing in Super Bowl XLIV, here are five myths surrounding one of those teams, the Indianapolis Colts.

1. The Colts made a mistake by not pursuing 16-0. They may be judged harshly at times on this front next week, and doubtless, there will be some who forever criticize the Colts for pulling starters late in the season. That's the unsolvable debate. If you believe they should have gone for 16-0, then you're going to be believe it. If you believe they needed rest and quality practice time to be as dominant in the playoffs as they were, then that's what you're going to believe. What matters to the Colts is they're at the Super Bowl, which to those who made the decision was the whole reason they did what they did. The 16-0 thing will be a theme for a while this week, mainly because there are national media who will be around the Colts for the first time since the regular season ended, and while to those who follow the Colts closely, the story may seem a bit dated, it's an easy angle and one that will draw attention. Is it a myth that they made a mistake by not pursuing 16-0? Hard to say, but it's no myth that they believed winning the Super Bowl far more important and it's no myth that to the Colts, it won't be nearly as big of an issue as many this week make it out to be.

2. That they're soft defensively. Believe it or not, this is still floating around out there. More than a few national media types have written and pontificated in recent weeks that this is a matchup of two elite offenses and two mediocre defenses. False. The Colts' defensive statistics aren't as eye-catching as they have been in some recent seasons – read: 2005 and 2007 – but the reality is this odd year's defense could be superior to either of the others'. The 2005 defense was dominant statistically, but at crucial times gave up big plays, such as the two early touchdowns that allowed the Steelers to take an early lead that the Colts never could quite overcome in the AFC Divisional Playoff following that season. The 2007 defense may have been better at the start of the season than either the 2005 or 2009 team – and that 2007 defense had the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year (remember S Bob Sanders) – but by the end of the season, DE Dwight Freeney was out for the season and the team couldn't rush the passer effectively enough to beat San Diego. If this year's defense doesn't have the statistics of those teams, it more than makes up for it in big-game, big-play performance and it's a defense that belies its statistics.

2a. The Colts can't win without Bob Sanders. This may be late, and it actually probably belongs in another list, but there's little question the Colts have debunked this myth. Call it a bonus myth, and we'll add another at the end, but this has been one of several cases this season of the Colts excelling in a way few thought possible. Since Sanders emerged as one of the NFL's most-dynamic, dominant defensive players during the Colts' run to the Super Bowl title following the 2006 regular season, it has been vogue to say that Sanders is the key to the defense. Actually, make that, it was vogue, because although Sanders has missed all but two games this season, the Colts' defense has been a big-time unit throughout the season. That's not to say they wouldn't be better with Sanders. He's an elite player with elite ability and Colts President Bill Polian has said on numerous occasions that he will return next season despite missing much of the last two seasons with injuries. What's good news for the Colts is they now know they can win with or without Sanders. With Sanders, they potentially could have been the most-dominant Colts defense of the last decade. With him, they're not far off, and few would have expected that six months ago.

3. The Colts can't run. This is one we'll hear a lot this week, and along with it, we'll hear the familiar refrain from the Colts that they have run effectively when necessary. Here's the thing about being 16-2 with no meaningful losses: your familiar refrains sound a lot more right. But the Colts are right in the sense that they have run well at times this season. Yes, they finished 32nd in the NFL in rushing, and without question that was well below what they hoped. But they were a better red-zone rushing team than they were a year ago, as well as a better short-yardage rushing team. Very significantly, RB Joseph Addai took a firm grasp of the starting position and made it it his own. Addai's major strengths are as a pass blocker and receiver, but that's not to say he hasn't been valuable as a runner. He has been good in the red zone this season, and has hit holes and cut up field better as the year has gone on. The Colts throughout the season ran effectively enough to create positive passing situations, and in the biggest game of the season – the AFC Championship Game – they had their most impressive performance of the season, outrushing the New York Jets, the NFL's No. 1 defense and No. 1 rushing offense during the regular season.

4. Jim Caldwell is a System Head Coach. This should have gone away by now, but it's a difficult myth to overcome because it's hard to prove it wrong. The easy, cynical approach is to look at Caldwell and see a coach who inherited a talented team from a legendary coach, Tony Dungy, and didn't mess things up. First of all, not messing things up is tougher than it sounds and not always done in the NFL. Secondly, Caldwell made major changes by hiring Larry Coyer as defensive coordinator and Ray Rychlesksi as special teams coach. He also has added an old-school edge to the Colts' approach while still being enough of a players' coach to listen to players and make fresh legs and late-season energy a priority. He is what the Colts need as a coach: an egoless leader far more concerned with winning than getting credit for winning – and in the NFL, that's a real and significant difference. There are those who think he has done a better job than Dungy, but forget comparing. Dungy was one of the most successful coaches of the last two decades, and the truth is the Colts may have accomplished something rare by getting someone equally capable as a successor.

5. Peyton Manning isn't the best quarterback of his era. This perhaps isn't so much a myth as a misconception. It long has been debated, and whatever the outcome next weekend, it will continue to be debated for the rest of the careers of Manning and New England Patriots QB Tom Brady and beyond. If the Colts win Sunday, the perception of Manning will improve in the eyes of many in this argument, but either way, if Manning hasn't proven he's the best beyond doubt, he has made a compelling argument. Four Most Valuable Player Awards, 10 Pro Bowl appearances and now, two Super Bowl appearances. Yes, Brady won three Super Bowls, but Brady has played at an elite level from 2001-2007 and 2009, with injuries taking away 2008. Manning has been at an elite level since 1999, a span of the most consistent 11 seasons in NFL history and has had the two best seasons of his career in the last two seasons – perhaps not statistically, but in terms of doing what is necessary to win. It was stunning, in a sense, to remember this week that Kurt Warner had played “just” 12 NFL seasons. It seemed he had two, three, four careers during that span. But equally stunning is that Manning has played that same amount of time and appears to have three, four prime years remaining. He hasn't necessarily secured the title of best quarterback of his era, but it's certainly a myth to not have him in the conversation, and there's little sign that he won't make his case stronger in the next few years.