INDIANAPOLIS —There isn’t much to quibble over with where the Indianapolis Colts stand Sunday evening, or how they got there.
After a monumental failed business trip to Denver — OK, we’re not including Gus Bradley’s defense — their playoff hopes regressed from promising to simply having a mathematical pulse.
Instead of heading into the final three games against fledging teams with roughly a 65% chance of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2020, the chances for the 6-8 Colts hover around 16%, according to the New York Times simulator.
The reason?
“More games are lost in this league than won, and you can’t beat yourselves,’’ Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “Straight and simple. That’s the bottom line.’’
Here’s the bottom line that will stick in the craw of the Colts, who led 13-7 at the half and were within maybe a yard of stretching that to 20-7 early in the third quarter.
Denver Broncos 31, Colts 13.
“Our defense played great,’’ quarterback Anthony Richardson said. “We had five, six turnovers.
“So, you can’t win no games like that.’’
Richardson could be excused for losing track.
The Colts’ error-filled game consisted of five turnovers — their most since five in the 2022 meltdown at Dallas — and eight penalties, including two third-quarter holding penalties against center Danny Pinter that sabotaged drives with Indy still holding a 13-10 lead.
There were two Richardson interceptions, a third-quarter fumble by wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and “fumbles’’ by running back Jonathan Taylor and rookie wideout AD Mitchell that were absolute daggers to what at the time were realistic playoff hopes.
Taylor’s gaffe probably was the game and season-changer.
“It was a mistake, obviously,’’ Steichen said. “It hurt us. But you know, he’s one of our leaders.’’
Added Richardson: “It was an accident. Obviously, he wants to get in the end zone, but stuff like that happens.
“Next time, we’ve just got to finish through the end zone.’’
Instead of breaking the tape on what initially was ruled a 41-yard touchdown run through the right side of the line, Taylor casually dropped the football inside the 1-yard line.
All scoring plays are reviewed, and it was clear Taylor failed to finish. His fumble was ruled a touchback when the football rolled out of the end zone.
“They said I didn’t cross the goal line,’’ he told reporters after the game. “That can’t happen. You’re never consciously aware you’re dropping the ball, otherwise you wouldn’t do it.
“You just can’t do that. It can’t happen.’’
Taylor apologized to his teammates.
“I just know that’ll never happen again,’’ he said. “That never happened to me before, and it’ll never happen again.’’
Instead of stretching their lead to 20-7 at the 12:36 mark of the third quarter in an extremely hostile environment, the Colts saw Taylor credited with a 40-yard gain and lost fumble.
“JT’s play doesn’t determine if we win or not because I also threw two interceptions,’’ Richardson argued.
But the magnitude of the error can’t be overstated.
Had Taylor added a 41-yard TD to a solid game —22 carries for 107 yards, his fifth 100-yard game of the season — that 20-7 lead would have loomed large considering how the defense was playing.
Despite being put in bad situations because of the turnovers, it limited the Bo Nix-led Broncos to 193 yards. It was Denver’s lowest output of the season and the fewest yards allowed by the Colts since 2021.
More damning to the rest of the team: The 193 yards were the fewest allowed by the Colts in a loss since 2007.
“I thought our defense played tremendous all game,’’ Steichen said. “They kept us in it the whole time.’’
Linebacker Zaire Franklin, cornerback Samuel Womack III and safety Nick Cross notched interceptions. Tackle DeForest Buckner had a sack of Nix.
But Buckner offered an appropriate postscript.
“It comes down to complementary football,’’ he said, “and we didn’t play great complementary football today.’’
The offense’s carelessness reached comedic levels early in the fourth quarter.
With the Colts still within reach at 17-13 and facing a second-and-seven at the Denver 40-yard line, Steichen dialed up a double pass: From Anthony Richardson to rookie wideout AD Mitchell and back to Richardson.
“We repped that play in practice all week and it looked great all week,’’ Steichen said. “ . . . that one didn’t work out.’’
After taking a second to get a better grip on the football, Mitchell tossed a pass back to left for Richardson, who would either find a receiver down the field or tuck it and run.
Broncos’ linebacker Nik Bonitto stepped in front of Richardson and returned what was a fumble — a backward pass — 50 yards for a touchdown.
“Maybe he didn’t see the guy, to be completely honest,’’ Steichen said.
“It was kind of a slow-developing play,’’ said Bonitto, “so I knew something was weird.’’
Just like that, Denver had a 24-13 lead that wouldn’t be threatened. It scored 24 unanswered points in the second half.
Mitchell offered a point-by-point recap of the failed gadget play.
“If you kind of look from my perspective, it was there pretty much until (Bonitto) turned into Ed Reed and just came through out of nowhere,’’ he said. “I executed the play call. He made a good play.
“I executed. I saw it. (Richardson) was open. I threw it. Turned out he wasn’t open. I don’t know where 15 came from, but I ain’t seen him.’’
The Colts were relatively efficient in building their 13-7 halftime lead. They generated Richardson’s 23-yard TD and two Matt Gay field goals on six possessions.
Then? Carnage.
Consider the nine second-half drives: fumble, punt, fumble, punt, punt, fumble, downs, interception, downs.
The run game was vibrant as Taylor and Richardson (46 yards on seven carries) were instrumental in 149 yards and 4.7 yards per attempt against a Denver run defense that had allowed 94.7 yards per game and no more than 146.
But Richardson remained unreliable in the pass game.
He completed 17-of-38 for 172 yards, the two interceptions and a 36.3 rating. Through three quarters, Richardson was 8-of-22 for 70 yards.
He piled up nine completions and 102 yards in the fourth quarter.
The long view of Richardson isn’t encouraging. He’s completed 50% or fewer of his passes in eight of his 14 starts and passed for more than 200 yards just five times.
As much blame as the offense earned, special teams was complicit. Other than Gay, that is.
Marvin Mims Jr. exploited the Colts’ punt coverage with 61 and 27-yard returns. The 61-yarder on the second play of the fourth quarter gave Denver possession at the Indy 15-yard line. Two plays later, Nix hit fullback Nate Adkins for a 15-yard TD and Denver’s first lead of the game at 17-13.
That’s how playoff hopes are all but extinguished.
“It was a big-time game for us,’’ Steichen said. “We know our chances are slipping, but we know that we sign up for 17 of these things and we’re going to keep fighting and keep battling.’’
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.