The road to Andrew Luck got a bit more difficult for the 2-13 Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night.

Indy won its second consecutive game with a 19-16 victory over the AFC South champion Houston Texans on Thursday.

Colts quarterback Dan Orlovsky engineered a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter, capped by Reggie Wayne’s one-yard touchdown reception.

As a result of the win, Indy’s future is in peril.

Next week, Indianapolis travels to Jacksonville to cap their 2011 season. A Colt loss means they will have the number one pick in the 2012 draft, where they would presumably select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

A win versus the Blaine Gabbert-led Jaguars puts the situation in limbo and perhaps, out of the top spot for the ’12 draft. Minnesota and St. Louis are next in line with two wins each.

If Indy somehow ends up not picking first, the Peyton Manning issue becomes a bit clearer. At that point, they would not have any significant option outside of the Super Bowl XLI MVP as their starting quarterback, who continues to nurse a neck injury.

Thursday’s announcement that USC quarterback Matt Barkley will stay in school and not enter the draft did not help matters either.

Clearly, the Colts aren’t going to roll over and play dead next week in Jacksonville. However, the long-term betterment of the franchise suggests a loss is best for the team.

Real competitors don’t think in that fashion though. Good for the Colts. The players and coaches should be saluted for their effort and not tanking it like the NBA’s Houston Rockets did back in 1984 to nab the player then known as Akeem Olajuwon.

Meanwhile, we agree that Houston’s postseason’s run will be slightly shorter than Kim Kardashian’s marriage to Kris Humphries, right?