How This Former Colts Star Went From Rock Bottom to Redemption

Published: April 21, 2026

By Mallory Mattingly

Former Indianapolis Colts linebacker Robert Mathis shared how a year of tragedy led him to find God.

“So now, 2014, I will say that was the worst year of my life, because the only good thing about that year was I had my baby girl, but I had gotten suspended by the NFL for having my baby girl, which I proved to Roger Goodell. My mother died. I get injured,” Mathis recalled in an episode of the “Sports Spectrum” podcast.

While in the hospital, he developed an infection similar to MRSA, which resulted in nine more surgeries.

“I got something similar to that in my surgically repaired Achilles, which is called pseudomonas, and I had to get a PICC line in my arm for months. I had to have a boot on for months,” the former NFL star continued.

Mathis felt like it was one blow after another.

“And it was like, oh my goodness. Stuff is just snowballing and snowballing,” he said. “And even, like in that time I was in the league, you know, the opioids that they used to give us, I formed an addiction. So I’m addicted to opioids, Vicodins and pain pills, and it’s just bad. This is bad.”

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One day, Mathis was in his basement at home and opened up his Bible to the book of Job.

“You can’t just read Job and think you got Job. It’s full of depth. So I’m reading that book and trying to get it. The death of my mother left a big gaping void in me. And obviously, my wife and children, that was, you know, that helped, but it was just all bad,” he said.

“I was digging in, finding where I can learn who I am, where I come from, what does this mean? Looking behind words, what does the Bible mean? And slowly but surely, He started revealing it. And you know, Acts 19:2, it says, ‘Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit since you believed?’ and I can say boldly that in 2019, I got filled with the with the Holy Spirit.”

“He is my master. He’s my savior,” Mathis said when asked who Jesus is to him today. “He’s my Messiah. He’s the the King of kings. He’s the Prince of Peace. He’s the Holy Spirit…He is all these things. He is omnipresent. He is omnipotent. And He is the king of glory, the king that I’m going to obey all the days of my life. And I proclaim it…Christ is king.”

Mathis’ story is a powerful reminder that God uses even the most difficult circumstances to draw us to Him.

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