Stephen Holder | IndyStar

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Matt Kryger/IndyStar

INDIANAPOLIS – For the past 22 seasons, Adam Vinatieri has been on NFL rosters. He’s seen it all. Highs and lows. Historic moments and cringe-worthy ones, too.

Most of all, though, he’s won.

Winning is all Vinatieri knows. In those 22 glorious seasons, his teams – first the New England Patriots and, now, Indianapolis Colts – had a losing record just twice.

So, Vinatieri could be forgiven for the puzzled look he wore when approached by a reporter wanting to talk about … losing?

What would the guy whose done nothing but win know about that? This season, plenty.

“I don’t cope with losing very well,” said Vinatieri, who is struggling to digest the Colts’ current 3-8 record. “If you ask my wife and my kids, I’m probably not a whole lot of fun these last couple of months. I don’t let things go very easily. The frustration level is there, man.”

There is no playbook for dealing with losing. Even in a league where the average salary is more than $2 million, there is no payoff like winning. And when you’re accustomed to victory, losing has an even greater sting.

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That’s especially true in the Colts’ locker room, where so many members of the team are dealing with what, for them, is a rare losing season. The Colts have weathered just one losing season in their previous 15 campaigns. Now, it appears 2017 will ensure that number increases.

Even for young players who have little history in Indianapolis, many have known nothing but success in the high school and college ranks. Now, here they are, in the midst of a 1-5 stretch.

They’re losing at a rate that is unprecedented for many of these players. And that’s left each Colts player trying to grapple with the personal toll losing can take.

For nose tackle Al Woods, his wife and family know just what he needs after a loss: He needs to be alone.

“My family always comes (to games), but I just tell them, ‘I’m gonna ride home by myself,’” Woods said. “And they understand. My wife will go her way and I just kind of take the long way home. And when I get home, I’m good. I try not to bring all that bad karma into my house.

“Me, I’m not a guy who drinks or anything like that. I just head down Michigan Road with all those (traffic) lights and I hope all the lights are red. I live all the way up north. So, I just take my time, and when I get home, my little boy is waiting for me. I forget (about the game) because I’ll start playing with him or watching ‘SpongeBob’ and all the rest of that stuff.”

If you think the losing has put you, the fan, in a sour mood, imagine if your life’s work was being judged merely by 16 Sundays a year, most of which ended unsuccessfully. That’s what 2017 has been for the Colts. Living your dream is great until your season turns into a nightmare.

“Winning is everything,” running back Frank Gore said. “When you’re out there competing, I don’t give a damn what sport it is or whatever it is. You want to win. Losing is tough.”

Clark Wade / IndyStar

Said coach Chuck Pagano, who has never had a losing season in his previous five in Indianapolis: “I’m sick for these players and the coaches and our fans. Sick! You don’t sleep and it just rips your guts out to see these guys have to go through this.”

When the Colts suffer a loss, linebacker Jon Bostic finds himself reverting to the same habit. He’ll head home and promptly cue up the game film. He obsesses over how and why the loss happened. He’ll let it go the next day, he said, but in the immediate aftermath, Bostic is overcome with questions he must try and answer.

“If we lose, I’m up watching tape – that night,” Bostic said. “I could have family in town or whatever, and they want me to go hang out. But it’s tough. I hate losing. This is a game that we love and you play to win.”

For offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo, he unfortunately (or fortunately?) has learned from experience how to cope with a season like this. He still vividly remembers the 2011 season, his first, when the Colts finished with a 2-14 record.

“I used to not (cope well),” he said. “But I do now. It took a lot of work on myself to get there. Sometimes I think about where we are this year compared to where we were my rookie season, when we were 0-11 at this point, and I know that I’m in a much better place mentally and can deal with it better. It still hurts to lose games. You want to win games but you have to be able to compartmentalize it.

“A younger me would just shut it down and go home. I’d probably be mean to my family or whoever was here for the game.”

Matt Kryger/IndyStar

And then there are guys like Vinatieri, who are not any better at handling losing today than they were years ago. Which, by the way, puts the four-time Super Bowl winner in some rather good company.

While he was enjoying all those many wins over the years, he also had a front-row seat to two of the sorest losers you’ll ever encounter.

“Guys who love winning, they don’t cope well with losing, either,” Vinatieri said. “I know Peyton Manning, if we lost, he was a jerk the whole week. That was just part of the deal. Tom Brady? Same thing. The guys who expect to win every week, they don’t like losing.

“For me, I always hate losing more than I like winning. It sounds stupid, I know, but it’s true. When we win, (I say), ‘O.K., that’s cool. This week’s gonna be good.’ But I hate losing. Winning is great. If you win the Super Bowl, sure, that’s the greatest feeling ever. But other than that, if it’s just a midseason game and we win, I’m on to the next one.”

That’s not a feeling Vinatieri has often experienced this season. The Colts have won just one game since Oct. 8. And on Sunday, they head to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars, who embarrassed the Colts with a 27-0 loss at Lucas Oil Stadium in Week 7.

Winning never gets old. And losing never feels good.

“It’s definitely been a frustrating year,” Vinatieri said. “It’s more fun to come to work knowing you can look to see what the stats are, the standings, all that. There’s been years where we were really good and you’re fighting for a (playoff) bye. Obviously, that’s not where we’re at right now.

“We’re just fighting to get a win.”

The Vinatieri household could really use a win right now. Mrs. Vinatieri likely agrees.

Follow Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter and Facebook.

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