Colts' Playoff Chances Go Up in Smoke Thanks to a Dropped Ball on The Goal Line and The Worst Trick Play Since The Infamous Fake Punt

At the start of today, the Indianapolis Colts (6-7) were 2 games back of the Denver Broncos (8-5) for the last playoff spot in the AFC. After today's game, the Colts cap off their season with the Titans, Giants, and Jaguars. The Broncos finish with the Chargers, Bengals, and Chiefs. The stat nerds assured us if the Colts won today their chances to make the playoffs would go up to 53%. If they lost, they'd drop to 7%.

The game couldn't have started out better for the Colts. It was a quintessential Anthony Richardson drive. He went 2/5, with one-chunk play down the field to Michael Pittman. Jonathan Taylor ran for 20 yards on 3 carries. Then Anthony Richardson capped it off with a long TD run. Exactly what an Anthony Richardson led Colts' offense is capable of doing.

Anthony Richardson did not get better from there. But it didn't even matter. Despite not being able to complete a pass, or move the ball downfield whatsoever, things kept falling the Colts way. The defense was playing as well as they've played all season. Bo Nix was handing out interceptions like he was Anthony Richardson. Colts went into halftime with a 6-point lead.

I really thought the Colts were going to pull it off. They were getting all the breaks. You never felt like the Broncos were a threat to do much on offense. My Colts ML + Anthony Richardson TD +525 parlay was looking excellent. An over 50% chance to make the playoffs was on the horizon. All Jonathan Taylor had to do was run up the middle 41 yards through the entire Denver Broncos defense. He was so darn close too. Did all the hard stuff.

With the momentum the Colts had at that point, that was probably the game right there. Not good. Hate to see it. Tough to swallow. Inexcusable. Just hold onto the damn football. All the same cliche shit people say every time this happens. Which is seemingly all the fucking time now. Apparently there's something about running with a football that makes players think they're 5 yards further downfield than they actually are. Or something like that. No clue how it happens as often as is it does. 

Now that it's happened to a team I cheer for, I think they should just stop reviewing those plays and count the touchdown. If you have a clear path, and the defense has given up, who cares if he dropped it a split second before the end zone. Jonathan Taylor's run had the spirit of a touchdown.

Just kidding… but only a little. In order to score a touchdown I suppose you should probably have to actually get the ball into the end zone. There's a lot of grey area in football, but that's a pretty black & white rule.

It was over from there. Not really, but it was. The Colts defense continued getting stops. But the offense was shot. Anthony Richardson couldn't put a drive together. The Colts committed what must have been on average 1.5 holdings per offense play. Not only did the Colts offense completely stop moving forward, but they topped it off in the most embarrassing way possible. 

Say what you want about the Colts as an organization, but you can't say they don't know how to whip up a hilariously bad trick play.

At least the Colts went out this season with a bang. A highly embarrassing bang, but a bang nonetheless. Ripping off three wins in a row vs the bottom of the NFL, while the Broncos drop 3 in a row to very capable teams isn't completely out of the question. I'm told it has exactly a 7% chance of happening. But that's almost certainly the season. 

Good try, good effort Colts. Impressive first drive Anthony Richardson. Impressive 3 quarters of defense, Colts defense. Impressive 40.9 yard run Jonathan Taylor. But I guess it's time for Irsay to fire everyone? That seems to be what the majority of Colts fans want.

There's still a large portion of fans who are convinced that Anthony Richardson is merely being held back by poor coaching. I'm not fully convinced of that, but it can't hurt to find out. Colts are overdue to shake things up at the top. Bring in a new GM. Bring in a new coach. Bring is some tight ends who can catch the football. See if we can still get something out of this core group of players. They have the talent if they're coached up correctly. I think.