10 thoughts on the Colts' humbling loss to the Bengals with playoff positioning on the line

Indianapolis Star
CINCINNATI - Ten thoughts on the Colts' 34-14 loss to the Bengals at Paycor Stadium to fall to 7-6:
1. The Colts came on the road with a 7-5 record, winners of four straight, facing another backup quarterback but one who was coming off a big performance with a 6-6 team with its own playoff desires.
And the Colts simply got their butts kicked all day long. In the trenches, on the edges, in the play designs, down the field, on the money downs, on the basic downs and in special teams. Seriously, it's hard to come up with three Colts players in this game who impressed, especially relative to their standard.
When players like Matt Gay, Quenton Nelson, Zaire Franklin and DeForest Buckner have off days, you know it's just not your day. And it was never the Colts' day in this one, not even when they got it a tie score at halftime with two touchdowns in about 40 seconds of play. It turned out that was the mirage, and this was a beating.
2. How does that happen, you ask? It's the NFL, partly, and any team can make you pay if you don't bring your A game. Health is partly to blame, too, as the Colts had a brutal injury report this week with Jonathan Taylor, Braden Smith, E.J. Speed and JuJu Brents all out, and all of those absences showed up. And I think the Bengals, with some superstar players at premium positions, are a step better than the teams they've played during this four-game winning streak.
But I think there's another hump the Colts have to get over: being a dome team playing December-style football. There's a certain intensity to trench play in these games that can favor either the home team or the one that's more battle-tested, and those were the Colts' biggest problem areas. Their offensive line committed key penalties, gave up what was essentially a strip-sack ruled an interception and managed just 2.6 yards per carry. Their defensive line came up short at the end of long drives and managed just three quarterback hits and zero sacks.
I don't think it means those units aren't good or can't win these games. But I think both came back to Earth a little after exceeding expectations in better conditions. There's still some youth on both of these groups that can grow from a humbling experience like this one.
3. This game gave me eerie vibes of the one other time I covered a game in this stadium, back in 2017, when the Lions needed to beat a three-win Bengals team to get into the playoffs and couldn't do it. That was the game we knew Jim Caldwell was getting fired, and the locker room fell apart under the weight of that realization.
Today's game play had the same feel -- sloppy execution, beaten badly in the trenches, can't pass in the cold -- but not the same gravity.
These Colts are still at the beginning of their trajectory under coach Shane Steichen and Anthony Richardson, who hasn't been on the field since October. They're a young team that's overcome a lot but is still susceptible to doing things that young teams do.
They're ahead of schedule, and today knocked them a little back to schedule. But they can still make the playoffs if they can regroup and return some of these key missing starters, and that will help flush this ugly loss.
4. The Bengals looked ready to run away with this one when they went up 14-0 on Joe Mixon's 1-yard touchdown run and then forced a 3-and-out, where they forced Gardner Minshew to check down as the play design called for, only Trey Hendrickson crushed Minshew from behind a full 3 seconds after he threw the ball.
That created the spark the Colts needed to get back in it, on a drive that ended fittingly with another Steichen wrinkle on fourth down. He called for Franklin at fullback again, like he did for the play-action seam pass to Mo Alie-Cox against the Buccaneers. This time, he had Minshew roll out and throw to Alie-Cox again, this time on a flag route to the corner of the end zone.
5. I was curious to see how the Colts would handle the absence of E.J. Speed in this one. They made the choice to whittle their linebacker depth by releasing Shaquille Leonard, and the elevation they made with a converted strong safety in Ronnie Harrison was about finding a cover linebacker, and now they had a need at a base linebacker spot.
Indianapolis rolled with Harrison as the second linebacker to Franklin in nickel, which was likely a bet on his veteran presence and experience facing the Bengals as a starter with the Browns. That paid off with a 36-yard pick-six just before halftime, when Harrison took a ball off the hands of a tight end and turned on the jets to find the end zone.
That was really the one legit play the Colts made.
6. Grover Stewart's return from a six-game suspension came at a needed time, as the Colts were reeling in run defense and forced to play without Speed. In the first six games with Stewart, the Colts allowed 114 rushing yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry. In the six games without him, they gave up 153 rushing yards per game and 4.7 yards per carry.
Stewart's return made an impact. The Bengals ran up the middle on 3rd-and-1 on their first drive and fell right into the belly of DeForest Buckner, which wasn't happening back when teams could just avoid him. They also needed three runs to get into the end zone from the 1 near the end of the first half.
Whenever Speed is out, the Colts will be vulnerable at the second level. It's just another example of how much the defensive front has to be the catalyst of this group. And when they have an off day in the pass rush like they did today, it's hard to see a good path to victory against a good opponent.
7. I didn't agree with Steichen on declining the illegal blindside block on the Bengals' last drive of the third quarter, and not just because of what resulted. The Colts could have backed a backup quarterback up in the red zone and forced him to gain 18 yards in two plays without the help of deep-route spacing. Instead, he banked on his defense getting off the field on 3rd-and-7 when the Bengals could get a first down before reaching the end zone, and that's what they did after getting it to 4th-and-1 and running it for the first.
Then Franklin lined up in the neutral zone, and all Browning had to do was reach the ball over the plane to extend the lead to 28-14.
8. That sequence was where the game was lost -- not specifically on Steichen's decision but on the defense's inability to rise up and play with poise. That was the case again and again as the Bengals racked up 385 yards on 6.8 yards per play and as the Colts finished with nine penalties.
The combination of Steichen's organization and the Colts defense's ability to rise up in the fourth quarter is a big reason this team is in position for a wildcard position despite playing most of the season with a backup quarterback. Across the course of the season, they deserve their flowers. But it is a rookie head coach and a defense with some patchwork cornerbacks, and they're due for a bad day sometimes, too.
9. Here's one positive performance: Michael Pittman Jr. reeled in eight of 11 targets for 95 yards. He caught the two-point conversion that tied the score just before halftime, creating what should have been some key momentum.
It was another game where the defense knew where the ball was going and Pittman found a way anyway. It's his ninth game with at least eight catches, including five in a row. This is just who he is in his fourth season, as I wrote after last week's win. And it's a player the Colts need to find a way to lock up for when Richardson returns next season.
10. Through it all, the Colts have a home game next Saturday afternoon against the Steelers. It will be Gardner Minshew vs. Mitch Trubisky. And the winner might be headed to the playoffs.
That's the AFC this season. It's chaos. It's wacky. And it's somehow still kind of interesting. It certainly beats last season for this team.