page_title: 2012 Indianapolis Colts season
section_title: Week 1
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Indianapolis Colts season / Game summaries / Regular season / Week 1
caption_attribution_description: English: The Chicago Bears vs the Indianapolis Colts on September 9, 2012.
context_page_description: The 2012 Indianapolis Colts season was the franchise's 60th season in the National Football League and the 29th in Indianapolis. The Colts earned the first selection in the 2012 NFL Draft due to a dismal 2–14 record in 2011 and used their first pick on Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. The season marked the first for both head coach Chuck Pagano and general manager Ryan Grigson with the franchise.
  It was also the Colts' first season since 1997 without Peyton Manning on the roster as he was released by the Colts in March 2012, after having missed the previous season due to neck surgeries, and signed with the Denver Broncos during that offseason.
  Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians served as interim head coach while Pagano underwent treatment for leukemia from week 5–16. Pagano returned, with his cancer in remission, during the final week of the regular season. The team went 9–3 under Arians, who won the Coach of the Year Award. The Colts earned a playoff berth, but were defeated by the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round.
context_section_description: The Colts began their season on the road against the Bears.  The game was highly hyped due to the start of the career of rookie QB Andrew Luck.  The Colts drew first blood in the first quarter as Jerrell Freeman returned an interception 3 yards for a touchdown and a 7–0 lead.  However, the Bears tied the game with Michael Bush's 1-yard run to tie the game at 7–7.  In the 2nd quarter, the Bears took the lead as Brandon Marshall caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Jay Cutler to make the score 14–7.  They then increased their lead when Robbie Gould scored a 35-yard field goal to make the score 17–7.  The Colts drew closer to shorten the lead to 3 with Donald Brown's 18-yard touchdown run to make the score 17–14.  However, with just seconds before halftime, the Bears drove down the field while Michael Bush ran in on a 1-yard touchdown for a 24–14 halftime lead.  In the 3rd quarter the Bears gained momentum once more with Matt Forte's 6-yard touchdown run for a 31–14 lead and then Robbie Gould's 26-yard field goal for a 34–14 lead.  In the fourth quarter, Luck threw his first touchdown pass of the regular season.  A 4-yard pass to Donnie Avery to shorten the lead to 34–21.  However, the Bears capitalized the victory with Cutler's 42-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery for a final score of 41–21.
  With the loss, the Colts began their season 0–1.
caption: Andrew Luck takes the snap
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