The Indianapolis Colts Hit Rock Bottom After Another 4th Quarter Collapse Against Minnesota

This was the largest comeback in NFL history trumping the original game between Buffalo and Houston in the 1992 AFC Wild Card game. That game was led (ironically) by former Colts HC Frank Reich after a knee injury to Jim Kelly weeks before. The Bills came back from a 35-3 deficit in the second half to defeat the Houston Oilers in overtime 41-38.

The Good: Bubba Ventrone and the Colts Special Teams

When we look for some positives in an embarrassing loss, we can find some good in one key phase. Colts Special Team unit continues to impress under coordinator Bubba Ventrone. Many in Indianapolis believe he should have been named interim coach instead of current HC Jeff Saturday.

Undrafted rookie Kick Returner Dallis Flowers had another impressive game returning kicks and punts. Kicker Chase McLaughlin was 5/5 on field goals. Colts’ punter Matt Haack had 3 punts inside the 20 as well. The special teams also blocked one punt that was returned for a Touchdown by Rookie JoJo Domann. Saturday was consulting with Bubba Ventrone on the sidelines with key coaching decisions as well.

Colts Lack A “Closer”

The Vikings game was a perfect example of where the Colts roster is lacking. They lack a “closer” to finish out games. Those positions would be QB, WR, and Edge Rusher. You want the QB/WR combo to be able to get that closing first down at the end of the game. On the flipside, you want an edge rusher that can finish off the game with a needed sack or tackle for loss. The Colts are not deep in any of those areas.

Matt Ryan has had the worst season of his long career and should not return next season. At wide receiver Pittman can be closer but with a weak QB that is averaging just over 5 yards per throw, it’s hard to close out the game with the predictable over the middle short throw. At edge rusher, they don’t have a ton of depth to rely on when the starters (Paye and Ngakoue) are double teamed. We saw it against Minnesota, they could not get that final finishing play on either side of the ball to close out the game.

Jeff Saturday Will Be a Difficult Sell to the Fans

With another loss on the season Jeff Saturday moves to 1-4 on the season as the interim coach. One could argue that the Raiders win was a pure adrenaline game for them, but it was a win, nonetheless. Colts’ owner Jim Irsay wanted so desperately for this grand plan of his to work. Unfortunately, the team is still a disappointment.

There are no more scapegoats to point the finger at. The franchise needs to be re-worked in every area. Chris Ballard needs to go. Jeff Saturday needs to go. One could argue Jim Irsay needs to finally step away and let his daughters take over. Asking the fan base to embrace Jeff Saturday is not feasible anymore. The biggest stain with this team, as mentioned above, is their inability to close games. In fact, during the five games of Saturday’s tenure, the Colts were outscored 83-9 in the fourth quarter. That simply comes down to coaching. Plain and simple.

What the Colts Need to Finish the Season

While the weaknesses are plentiful on this team, we might see some new young talent get some more playing time hopefully in the coming weeks to finish off the season. It would be nice to see some more of Jelani Woods at tight end. He has stood out as the star of this draft class on the offensive side of the ball.

On the defensive side of the ball, it might be finally time to bench the underwhelming CB Brandon Facyson and let undrafted rookie Dallis Flowers and safety Nick Cross get some playing time in the secondary. And with Nick Foles just announced as the starting QB on a week-by-week basis the future has essentially been sealed for Matt Ryan.

Colts’ fans need to ask themselves, is this the staff that you want to draft and develop the (hopefully) incoming franchise quarterback after a season like this? One would think that the answer is simple.

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