Doyel: Do Colts want to win badly enough to sign Suh?

Ndamukong Suh is the wrong guy – no, the worst guy – for the Colts to pursue this offseason. He's violent, cruel. Dirty. We don't tolerate players like that around here.

​Thing is, Ndamukong Suh is the right guy – no, the perfect guy – for the Colts to sign this offseason. He's disruptive, gifted. Dominant. The Colts need a player like that around here.

So for the Colts, what it comes down to is this: How badly do they want to be great?

Sign Suh, a free agent after five years in Detroit – and four Pro Bowls at defensive tackle – and sell your soul to whatever demons drive him to greatness and beyond. But win, baby. Sign Suh, and win. Win big. Win it all? Yeah, maybe so. Shortly after Super Bowl 49, odds makers in Las Vegas installed the Seahawks as a 5-to-1 favorite to win Super Bowl 50. The champion Patriots are 6-to-1.

The Colts are 12-to-1.

Sign Suh, and that number could be – should be – cut in half. He's that good, and that perfect for what ails the Colts. And you know what ails the Colts? It's more than a lack of disruptive talent on defense.

It's nastiness.

Quick, name one nasty player for the Colts. Just one. Name one guy who strikes fear into the other team, not fear from talent but fear from volatility. Name one Colt who plays with such a ferocious edge that he's in the opponent's head before the game even starts.

Other than cornerback Vontae Davis, name one Colts defender who must be accounted for, dealt with, avoided by the opposing offense.

There isn't a Colts defender like that other than Davis, who can be avoided without the opponent having to pay a premium. Did Tom Brady pay a premium for avoiding Davis twice this season – or for that matter for avoiding shutdown Seattle corner Richard Sherman in the Super Bowl? A cornerback can be avoided. At the snap he's 20 yards from the ball.

Ndamukong Suh is breathing on it.

The question here isn't one of need. Clearly the Colts defense, and defensive front, has a need. There are nice players up front, like Cory Redding and Arthur Jones. And Jonathan Newsome and Montori Hughes. Nice players, all. But not great. Not any of them. If outside linebacker Robert Mathis comes back after his Achilles' tear, he too ought to be a nice player. Will the 34-year-old, surgically repaired Mathis be a great player in 2015? Maybe.

The Colts can't bet their 2015 season on maybe.

Ndamukong Suh is greatness. Definitely. He would give the Colts the pass-rusher they need, the run-stopper they need, the nastiness they need. He's not just a decent answer for what ails this defense. He's the answer.

He'll be expensive, but the Colts can afford him. You'll hear they can't, but don't listen. They can – if they want to.

Do they want Suh?

Do you?

That's the major issue here, and not just for the Colts but for you. We're not talking about the Jets or Patriots. Around here, the professional football team isn't a bunch of hired hands, mercenaries, to be embraced simply because they're our hired hands, our mercenaries. Doesn't take much time in Indianapolis to figure out that people here want their pro sports franchises to do two things, in equal measure:

Win.

Win with decency.

The last few months have been indecent, what with the arrests of a trio of Colts linebackers – Josh McNary, Andrew Jackson and D'Qwell Jackson. That doesn't sit well with Colts fans. It doesn't sit well with the Colts, either. Chuck Pagano is a huggable but serious man. He wants two things:

Win.

Win with decency.

Suh would be the suggestion of indecency. OK, fine – Suh would be the promise of indecency. Sign Suh, and understand what you're getting. You're getting a dangerous breed, the kind of player who will be wonderful most of the time except for that one time when he's not. And when that one time happens – and with this guy, it will happen – you cannot say, "Oh, we didn't know."

Yes, you did know.

But do you care?

Ndamukong Suh makes the Colts a Super Bowl team. Him alone, that might do it. Him, plus some more help – an upgrade at running back, linebacker and offensive line – and the Colts are a stone-cold AFC favorite. The road to Super Bowl 50 might again go through New England, or maybe New England's road back would come through Indianapolis, but with Suh on this team the Colts would be a legitimate threat to the Patriots. He would give this very nice, very decent team something for New England to fear.

The choice belongs to the Colts. What do they want to be? Great, or decent? Same for Colts fans. What do you want your team to be – great, or decent?

We've seen decent.

Decent got outscored 45-7 by the best team in football.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel