They did it to themselves.
The Colts came into Week 17 needing two wins over the Giants and Jaguars, the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL, to put themselves in position for a possible playoff berth.
Yet, against all odds, they would dig their own grave in a disastrous, mistake-filled embarrassment of a performance, losing to the Giants 45-33.
With Anthony Richardson sidelined with back spasms, the Colts had to turn to veteran quarterback Joe Flacco to get the job done.
Flacco certainly made his mistakes, but he helped the offense respond to every jab thrown their way. He would finish with 330 passing yards and two touchdowns, but it simply wasn’t enough to overcome a flat defensive performance.
“It’s embarrassing, it’s disappointing,” linebacker and defensive captain Zaire Franklin told the media after the game. “The performance we put out defensively (was) beyond unacceptable.”
It was a historically awful day for the Colts defense. New York’s 389 total yards of offense exceeded their season average (311.8) by 77 yards.
Their 45 points allowed were not only a season high for New York’s league-worst scoring offense, but the most the Giants have scored in a game since 2015.
“It’s indescribable, to be honest,” cornerback Kenny Moore II told reporters post game, adding his confusion since he felt the week of preparation went well. “Everything was in arm’s reach, until it wasn’t.”
Despite the satisfaction their defensive preparation did nothing but help quarterback Drew Lock play one of his best career showings.
At times, Lock looked more like a prime Eli Manning than the backup-level passer that he’s typically been, throwing four touchdowns for only the second time in 34 career games.
But, it wasn’t necessarily incredible throws and catches which got Lock that touchdown tally. Rather, poor tackling by the Colts allowed Darius Slayton, Wan’Dale Robinson and Malik Nabers (twice) to scamper into the end zone.
As a whole, there seemed to be a complete absence of urgency from Gus Bradley’s unit. No play sums up that lack of persistence more than Lock’s game-sealing rushing touchdown.
After evading the pass rush and escaping the pocket to his left, Lock saw open space between him and the goal line. He decided to scramble towards the pylon and was met with minimal resistance.
EJ Speed took a bad angle, Nick Cross never made contact and DeForest Buckner arrived too late. The play epitomized the defensive showing as a whole: a sluggish, error-plagued mess.
The Colts were sloppy in all three phases. Flacco turned the ball over three times. The defense never set the tone. Special teams miscues included a missed 54-yard field goal and allowing a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half.
“I always say that I gotta be better,” head coach Shane Steichen said after the game. “We all got to be better.”
That said, Sunday revealed that the Colts need a lot more than just to “be better” to get over the hump and return to the postseason.
Indianapolis has now missed the playoffs four seasons in a row. What’s so frustrating about this year is that the scenario they now find themselves in was avoidable had they executed properly.
But, there’s nobody to blame but themselves.
The Colts have one final game to prepare for next week, hosting the Jaguars, before bringing their season to a close. And, Steichen acknowledges there is a challenge in keeping everyone bought in without anything left to fight for.
“It’s a tough situation…we gotta be professional about it,” he said. “We gotta show up and do our job with one week left.”
