The San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to play the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday, October 8. It will be the second of three straight road games for the visiting 49ers and follows a road matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. The Colts announced today that the home crowd will have some added incentive to get excited about the matchup. The organization will be retiring the jersey of longtime Colts quarterback Peyton Manning during the game against the 49ers. On the Saturday leading to the matchup, the Colts will also unveil a new Manning statue at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The statue of Peyton Manning will be unveiled October 7th at 3PM. We'll also retire the No. 18 jersey at #SFvsIND: https://t.co/YkM37YnLHN pic.twitter.com/xL0X5OY7Fw
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) May 9, 2017
It's interesting that the Colts chose this game to retire Manning's jersey. Indianapolis will host the Denver Broncos on Thursday, December 14. Manning played for both teams during his career so that game may have had more meaning to the future Hall of Fame quarterback. Of course, it is unlikely that the Colts wanted to compete with visiting Broncos fans. Manning won a Super Bowl with each franchise.
The 49ers are coming off of a two-win season and have their fourth head coach in as many years. New head coach Kyle Shanahan has been working diligently with new general manager John Lynch to rebuild what was considered to be one of the least talented rosters in the league. While the duo's most recent draft has received rave reviews from analysts, no one is expecting the franchise to be turned around in one offseason.
Shanahan and Lynch have time to build the roster according to their vision for the 49ers. Each received an unprecedented six-year contract to spearhead the massive rebuild.