For the first time in 2025, the Indianapolis Colts have lost back-to-back games. A 20-16 home loss to the Houston Texans, the first home and division losses for Indy this season, came Sunday after a loss the previous week to the Chiefs.
Once 7-1 and appearing invincible, the Colts are 1-3 in their past four games. The initially hyper efficient offense has sputtered. Running back Jonathan Taylor, at one point demanding MVP discourse, is fading.
The juggernaut image, along with quarterback Daniel Jones and cornerback Sauce Gardner, is falling apart. The league is figuring Indianapolis out. What worked early on isn’t effective anymore and it feels like the proverbial ice under the Colts’ feet (hooves?) is about to break.
Sunday’s loss to Houston proved it. Say what you want about the officiating—yes, it was horrible and crew chief Clay Martin’s baseless attempts to justify the most questionable decisions by his crew postgame don’t help.
Frustration with poor officiating is valid. Especially with a phantom pass interference call which ultimately played a major factor in deciding Sunday’s outcome. But two things can be true—the officiating was substandard but the Colts had more than enough chances to overcome that adversity.
Indy’s offense was not itself on Sunday, leading to stagnation and ultimately their worst showing of the season scoringwise. For the first time, the Colts tallied less than 20 points in a game. Jones finished 14-for-27, his worst completion rate of the year. It was clear that the fibula injury he’s battling is a hindrance to the entire unit and it showed against a strong defense, especially in the first half.
The unit which once was nearly unstoppable on their first possession of a football game could not find any momentum early. Three straight punts and a turnover on downs made up Indy’s first four drives.
It took a Cam Bynum interception, giving the offense a short field, to finally break through and find the end zone. Even then, kicker Michael Badgley missed the extra point, which had a lasting effect.
On the game’s final drive, Jones and the offense found themselves on the Houston 32-yard line with two minutes to play, down four. A 1-yard run, an incompletion and a Josh Downs drop later, the Texans defense had gotten to fourth down.
If Badgley had made his extra point, then Indianapolis takes the field goal try to force overtime without hesitation. But because he missed, going for it was the only option. The Colts did go for it, and failed, dropping two straight games for the first time this year.
It’s little mistakes like a missed extra point which has caused some of the early season magic to fizzle out. We can even go back to Indy’s first loss of the year to the Rams, where now-Jets wide receiver AD Mitchell made two crucial errors to take points off the board to explain that the only thing in the Colts’ way this year has been themselves.
Early on, Indianapolis appeared to be the team to beat in the AFC. But they peaked too early.
Now, with a gauntlet of games to close out the regular season and having lost three of their past four, just making the playoffs is the objective.
Ideally, winning the AFC South would be the best qualification method. The Colts haven’t earned a division title since 2014. A postseason berth via the wild card would work, too, but not winning a division title after holding a commanding lead would only further verify that the Colts played their best football too early in the year.
The model which worked before against bottom feeders won’t have the same level of effectiveness with quality opponents upcoming. The offense won’t breeze down the field like it did against Miami or Las Vegas.
Adversity is inevitable. And given how the Colts have performed in its face at times this season, there’s little to suggest they can be trusted to consistently overcome it.
There is some level of comfort knowing that this stretch could potentially just be another bump in the road. Once key pieces such as Jones, Gardner and DeForest Buckner are back healthy, perhaps the Colts can get back on track. But current trends suggest that—playoffs or not—the Colts are still a shell of their early season selves. Achieving the lofty championship expectations brought on by a hot start feels out of reach.
A lowered ceiling means a fragile floor too. Underachieve and the fall from grace will be difficult to outlive.
