Quarterback Gardner Minshew (10) is one of many factors in the Colts’ somewhat surprising season.
Associated Press
The league-wide parity the National Football League goes out of its way to seize every season has never been more apparent.
Exhibit A: the eight-win Indianapolis Colts.
Prized rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson lasted four games before sustaining a season-ending injury. Linebacker Shaquille Leonard, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and once the most feared aspect of the Colts’ defense, now plays for Philadelphia.
Running back Jonathan Taylor sat out four games due to his desired pay raise, and even more after having surgery performed on a damaged thumb.
Add these snippets of misfortune together, and the franchise should be dreaming of a top-five draft selection, not a possible — perhaps even likely, based on the schedule — playoff berth.
And yet somehow, here we are.
The suddenly relevant AFC Central division has been spitting out positive storylines since September, be it the play of Houston rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, Jacksonville again fielding a quality product or the job first-year head coach Shane Steichen is doing in Indy.
A franchise that not long ago told Jeff Saturday to stand on the sideline, handed him a headset and had him coach eight games — then tortured us with the possibility that the former Colts center actually might get the gig full-time — appears to have gotten it right with the 38-year-old Steichen.
Has it been perfect? Not even close. Have we watched games and wondered if Steichen was in over his head? Absolutely. The team’s recent bottoming-out in Cincinnati against the Joe Burrow-less Bengals was frustrating on so many levels.
So what did the Colts do? They responded with a 27-13 home conquest of a fast-fading Pittsburgh Steelers train derailment to improve their record to 8-6.
But that’s the NFL.
The level of evenness achieved in recent years makes fools of everybody at one point or another, with won-loss records left to determine who’s flourishing versus floundering.
Bill Belichick was the league’s undisputed coaching GOAT. Better than Lombardi, Halas, Brown, Walsh, Shula, Parcells and the rest. Now some wonder if an actual goat could have guided this Patriots squad to a better record than its current 3-11 misery than old H.R. Grumpnstuf himself. (Apologies for the late-1960s cartoon reference.)
For a stretch, we were naïve enough to believe Frank Reich would be the answer in Indianapolis, but no. Then he was hired and shown the door by Carolina within a span of 10 months.
And though it’s as cliché as sports clichés can get, Indy is riding the next-man-up mantra like never before.
The March signing of well-traveled quarterback Gardner Minshew turned out to be huge, but it was only a one-year deal. Hopefully, the Colts brass keeps him around because Richardson, while an exceptional talent, doesn’t possess the look of longevity given his ability to run the football.
Running back Zach Moss. Receiver Michael Pittman. An improved offensive line. Linebacker Zaire Franklin, rookie slot receiver Josh Downs. Cornerback Kenny Moore II. The running of “wait, who?” backs Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson in the win over Pittsburgh.
Steichen and his assistants are putting whichever Colts players are available in a position to taste victory more often than not.
Three weeks remain in the regular season, starting with Sunday’s game at Atlanta. Then it’s consecutive home dates against Las Vegas and Houston, meaning than an 11-6 mark is a very real possibility.
Time for the Colts to either win their division, barely get their foot in the postseason door or play bug to the NFL’s windshield of parity.
Whatever the case, this season has been anything but boring.
Mike Beas is a sportswriter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
