The Indianapolis Colts (4-9-1) are just three weeks away from the end of the 2022 regular season where they will begin to regroup and focus on the future.
There are a lot of decisions to be made over the course of the next few months, starting with general manager and head coach. While Chris Ballard is currently under contract, his job is far from safe. Meanwhile, the search for a new head coach will be one of the top priorities this offseason.
Coming off a historic collapse in the 39-36 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, there’s not much more to say about this team. They are limping to the finish line without showing much life under the current regime.
Here’s where the Colts sit in the power rankings entering Week 16:
USA TODAY
Author: Nate Davis
Rank: 29 (-1)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “No matter how long Jeff Saturday’s NFL coaching career turns out to be, he’ll almost surely be a part of league lore for years to come — as the guy who oversaw the biggest one-game meltdown of all time.”
Touchdown Wire
Author: Mark Lane
Rank: 31 (-2)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “It is almost like the Colts are a team without a coach. That is the only way to explain how Indianapolis was able to blow a 33-0 halftime lead. Either that or the ghost of Jack Pardee possessed Jeff Saturday for the last half and overtime against the Minnesota Vikings. Proper game management would have been able to protect this lead and not give Matt Ryan a revisit of his lone Super Bowl appearance.”
Bleacher Report
Author: NFL Staff
Rank: 31 (-3)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “Matt Ryan needs a hug.
Ryan already held the dubious honor of being on the wrong side of the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. Now, after the Colts squandered a 33-0 halftime lead in Minnesota, Ryan is also on the wrong end of the biggest comeback in NFL history.
Believe it or not, it gets worse. In January 2013, Ryan’s Falcons blew the largest lead in NFC Championship Game history. He was also part of the largest blown lead in any game played outside of the U.S. when the Falcons squandered a 21-0 lead in London in 2014.
After the loss, Ryan was worried more about the plays the Colts didn’t make than the historic significance of their collapse.
“I’ve played in this league a long time to know that a lot of different things can happen,” Ryan told reporters. “Anything can happen. You just have to keep your head down and keep going and find ways to make plays when they present themselves. It’s not much. It’s a handful of plays in a game. It’s three or four plays from an offensive perspective that we’ve got to find ways to execute, and it’s a win. We just didn’t make them.”
Given how the season has gone, Ryan’s first year in Indy will probably be his last. Head coach Jeff Saturday’s chances of losing his “interim” tag go down with every loss. This is a team headed for another offseason rebuild after having its sixth different starting quarterback in as many year.”
ESPN NFL Nation
Author: Stephen Holder
Rank: 29 (-1)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “Pleasant surprise: LB Zaire Franklin
The 2018 seventh-round draft choice had never played more than 18% of defensive snaps in his career. But this season, with injuries to Shaquille Leonard, he was forced to handle a massive increase in playing time, and he has been a revelation. While playing 100% of defensive snaps, Franklin has become a playmaker, ranking fourth in the NFL with 141 tackles. Only five off-the-ball linebackers have more than Franklin’s nine tackles for loss this season, as his impact is finally being felt beyond special teams.”
Sporting News
Author: Vinnie Iyer
Rank: 27 (+1)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “The Colts’ nightmare season appropriately involved a Saturday meltdown under Jeff Saturday. The offensive underachieving has really dragged down an often stingy and playmaking defense. That D unraveled with little help in the second half in Minnesota.”
Pro Football Network
Author: Dalton Miller
Rank: 27 (–)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “Time heals wounds, but it’s also what caused them for the Colts on Saturday against the Minnesota Vikings. Because of the nature of the Vikings this season, even a 20-0 deficit felt surmountable for the one-score kids.
But Indianapolis got up by 33 at halftime. It would take the single greatest collapse in NFL history to lose that lead. And that’s exactly what happened. The Dallas Cowboys put up 33 points in the fourth quarter of their game against Indianapolis.
The Vikings scored four touchdowns in less than 15 game minutes, completely erasing a 36-7 lead. There are no words of encouragement or beratement. All we can do is sit in awe.”
NFL.com
Author: Dan Hanzus
Rank: 31 (–)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “An unthinkable collapse by the Colts, who jumped out to a stunning 33-0 halftime lead over the Vikings on Saturday only to end up on the bad side of the biggest comeback in NFL history. Indianapolis helped Minnesota get back into the game with an extremely conservative second-half game plan that ultimately produced three points in the final two quarters and overtime. Not to be outdone, the defense was sliced and diced by Kirk Cousins, giving up 417 of Cousins’ 460 passing yards — and all four of his touchdown passes — after the break. We’d say this is the kind of loss that gets a head coach fired … but the owner already flipped that emergency lever a month ago. This is a Colts season that needs to end.”
CBS Sports
Author: Pete Prisco
Rank: 28 (–)
Link to article
Author’s Take: “Any chance they had to make the playoffs disappeared by blowing a 33-0 lead Saturday to the Vikings. That’s about it for Jeff Saturday.”
