Another Christmas break has been and gone.
One thing that never has a break, is the NFL regular season. It continues to roll on as we head towards the end of another exciting year with playoff berths to be won, with teams hopeful of playing deep into January.
However, one team that will not be playing into January are the Indianapolis Colts.
The barely flickering candle light of their season was brutally extinguished by the New York Giants on Sunday. The Colts season is over before your Christmas tree is put away for another year.
And it was not undeserved. Indy entered this weekend knowing they had to win to keep their postseason dream alive.
They also needed results elsewhere to go there way. Part one of this was achieved after the Cincinnati Bengals took care of the Denver Broncos on Saturday evening.
The next part was down to the Colts. Take care of your own business against the worst team in the NFL this year, and you give yourself a chance heading into the final weekend.
What happened next, was the biggest beat down seen in the Big Apple since Harry and Marv were given the run around by a 10-year-old in Home Alone 2. Sorry, could not resist the analogy.
But seriously, this was bad. Really bad. The Giants put up 45 points on the Colts. That was more than they had managed in their previous three games. Combined.
It was hard to see which team still had playoff ambitions.
This week’s slate of games saw six teams score 40 points or more. Of those, five teams are playoff contenders. The other was, going into this week, the worst team in the NFL. And they absolutely obliterated the Colts.
Injury confusion
Sure, Indy were without quarterback Anthony Richardson, who was ruled out with what was later revealed to be back spasms.
Use of the word ‘later’ is key here, as head coach Shane Steichen had bizarrely been calling it ‘soreness’ all week.
This raised more than an eyebrow among a frustrated fan base. As back spasms are obviously more serious than just ‘soreness’ it might have been easier to just say that from the beginning? It really could have been handled a bit better.
It all paints a picture of dysfunction which coupled with a performance as bad as this, has to raise questions about what the future of the franchise looks like. The fact that Colts fans can point to similar experiences within the last few years is not the sign of a team going places.
Players and coaching staff were asked their thoughts after the game, as is custom in the NFL. Most of them looked a little stunned at what had happened.
One the teams captains, and by consensus, one of the best players on this team, DeForest Buckner was asked his thoughts yesterday afternoon. He summed it up well: “I’m going to be honest. As a team we sh*t the bed.”
Could not have put it better myself.
