It wasn’t pretty, but the Colts are finally in the win column, scraping past the Bears for a 21-16 victory in Lucas Oil Stadium.
“Good to get the first [win], for sure,” said head coach Shane Steichen after the game as his team improved to 1-2 on the young season.
The duel between Anthony Richardson and Caleb Williams, the two youngest starting quarterbacks in the NFL, proved their youth and inexperience. Both struggled to move the ball early in the game and each had a pair of interceptions.
Ultimately, Richardson was the one to make fewer mistakes and, by sheer will, help the Colts to their first win of the season, despite his own setbacks. He threw two interceptions, including one in the end zone to keep the game scoreless in the first half. The pass game wasn’t working with Richardson off the mark several times.
“It’s always frustrating when I’m missing [throws]... I’m gonna clean it up for the team, for sure,” Richardson said on his inaccuracy.
He finished the game 10-for-20, keeping him towards the bottom of the league in completion percentage (49.3%). Still, Richardson and the offense navigated through their struggles, doing just enough for the win.
“We gotta find ways to make it work,” Richardson said. “The pass game wasn’t necessarily there, I couldn’t find a good rhythm…so we ran the ball.”
The run game was what steered the Colts offense. A hundred and fifty yards and all 21 points came on the ground, with Jonathan Taylor leading the way. He found the end zone twice, including with 5:22 to play, putting a win out of Chicago’s reach.
The third score came from Trey Sermon on one of the more unusual plays you’ll watch all year. After initially being stuffed at the goal line, Sermon received an escort from nearly the entire offense, similar to a rugby scrum, pushing him into the blue end zone turf for six points.
Defensively, Gus Bradley’s unit was much improved. They came into the week dead last in rushing yards allowed per game (237), but limited the Bears to just 63 yards on the ground.
While the team came together to improve that glaring weakness, it was individual performances which boosted the defense, headlined by Jaylon Jones.
Jones, who came into Sunday without a career interception, logged two off Williams. Both came at the perfect times as well, one stopping a promising drive following one of Richardson’s picks, and the other after the Colts allowed a free first down off a running into the kicker penalty when attempting to block a punt.
“You keep working, you keep grinding, and all of a sudden the ball finds you,” Steichen said. “He did a hell of a job making those plays for us.”
Late on, rookie Laiatu Latu announced himself to the NFL with a timely turnover of his own. With a burst of speed to turn the corner on tight end Cole Kmet, Latu got to Williams as he was throwing, knocking the ball loose for a strip-sack. Grover Stewart recovered, setting the offense up to put the game on ice.
“Any takeaway we have, you see it juices our defense up,” Latu said after the game. “That’ll definitely boost our confidence.”
It’s a much-needed confidence boost for this Colts team, who finally put all the pieces together to get that coveted first win.
“All we needed was one,” Richardson said. “Hopefully we can keep the train rolling and stack the dubs up.”
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