The Indianapolis Colts have seen this story before. It isn’t a pretty, happy story.

But in terms of importance, it’s not a very big story, either.

The Colts, as they have done for much of the last decade, held their starting lineup out of the 2009 preseason finale Thursday night. And as they have done for much of the last decade — a span that includes seven consecutive playoff appearances – the Colts lost the preseason finale to the Cincinnati Bengals, this time starting just two regular starters in a 38-7 loss in front of 56,527 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

“The performance is not what we expected,” Colts first-year Head Coach Jim Caldwell said after Indianapolis lost for the third time in four preseason games. “Guys hung in there and gave us the effort we were looking for, but we didn’t execute nearly as well as we had anticipated. We are disappointed in that. Obviously, some of the guys we had in there were guys that we were trying to make some decisions on. Now we have an opportunity to evaluate the film.”

 The Colts, who won AFC South titles from 2003-2007, have played the Bengals in the last nine preseasons, with eight of the meetings in the preseason finale. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who hasn’t missed a regular-season game in his NFL career,  hasn’t played in the preseason finale since 2004.

 The Colts have lost to the Bengals in the preseason finale each of the last five years, and have scored a total of 16 points in the games during that span.

“We’ll certainly look at the tape tomorrow morning,” Colts President Bill Polian told Colts radio. “I was joking with the coaches after the game, ‘We had a lot of questions going into the game. Many of them were answered. Unfortunately, the answer was no in a lot of cases.’ It only takes 53, not 80. We’ll sort through it. There are areas we’re going to have tho shore up, but we’ve had those issues before. 

“We faced the very same issue the year we won the Super Bowl. We’ll get it squared away.”

The Bengals outgained the Colts, 389-205, and outrushed the Colts 296-75. The Bengals also sacked Colts quarterbacks six times.

“We obviously didn’t move the ball the way we wanted to on offense, but we had a lot of guys dinged up,” Colts tight end Jacob Tamme told the broadcast. “We had a lot of guys playing hard. The preseason overall was successful, but it’s never a good feeling when you lose a game and leave with that taste in your mouth.”

 The Colts fell behind by a touchdown early, but rallied and cut the lead to 10-7 by the end of the period.

 The Bengals moved 61 yards on five plays on their first drive, taking a 7-0 lead when wide receiver Andre Caldwell caught a 14-yard pass from quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan. Just two Colts defensive starters — strong-side linebacker Philip Wheeler and defensive tackle Ed Johnson — started the game.

 The Colts tied the game on the ensuing drive when Sorgi — playing for the first time this preseason after missing the first three games with a hamstring injury — passed 22 yards to first-year veteran wide receiver Taj Smith.

 Smith snatched a pass near the right sideline, then ran the final 10 yards into the end zone.  Backup kicker Sam Swank’s 49-yard field goal gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead late in the quarter. No projected Colts starter started the game offensively.

 The Colts allowed two touchdowns on the Bengals’ final two second-quarter drives. First, wide receiver Chris Henry caught a seven-yard pass from reserve quarterback Jordan Palmer to cap an eight-play, 81-yard drive and give the Bengals a 17-7 lead. After Bengals defensive end Frostee Smith sacked Sorgi and forced and recovered a fumble, running back Brian Leonard’s 4-yard touchdown run put Cincinnati ahead, 24-7.

 The Bengals pushed the lead to 31-7 in the third quarter when TE Kolo Kapanui caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Palmer gave the Bengals a 31-7 lead early in the third quarter, then former Colts running back DeDe Dorsey blocked, recovered and returned a punt for a touchdown in the fourth.

 “Very seldom are you going to find guys in our position who are satisfied,” Caldwell said. “We certainly have a number of areas we need to work on and get better at. All across the board, we’re going to need some work to get our team in a position to go out and play well.”

 The Colts, who made five roster moves early this week, must trim 22 more players from the active roster this by Saturday afternoon to reach the 53-man limit.

 “It’s a tough weekend,” Caldwell said. “Anytime you have to trim the squad down, you’re talking about 22 guys or so. It’s a difficult time for them when you dash hopes and dreams – it’s a tough time.”