Monday night’s defensive performance still wasn’t the worst we’ve seen from the Colts in the last year

That was rough. On one hand, the offense for the Indianapolis Colts looked solid with Philip Rivers running the show. It was a far cry from what we witnessed in Seattle as the ball was thrown down the field, the receivers found plenty of space to work with and were targeted at a much higher rate, and the Colts found the endzone three times. Scoring 27-points with a 44-year old quarterback who hasn’t been on the roster a full two weeks is highly impressive. It was the defense that completely sagged under the pressure. One might be tempted to believe it was the worst defensive performance over the last year. Here is your reminder that the Giants game occurred in the last 365 days.

Before anyone wants to argue, let’s set the record straight. Last night’s game from a defensive perspective was atrocious. It was truly pathetic, but a few factors need to be taken into consideration: the aforementioned 44-year old quarterback and the lack of preparation time and the fact that the 49ers are a really good team, like potential number one overall seed in the NFC good. It was always going to be a tall task to beat them. Should it have been that sad? No, but that doesn’t mean the Colts weren’t going to get handled by them. It was disappointing but not surprising. Now, the beatdown they got on December 29th of 2024 against the Giants with a potential playoff spot on the line, that was even worse.

If you compare the two games as a blind review based on stats alone, the 49ers definitely did more damage in most categories. One has to consider more, though. Both games were highly desired for playoff potential, but the Giants game was a must. It was also against a 2-12 team that was winless at home. Drew Lock was the starting quarterback, and he led them on drives of five plays, 70-yards, five plays, 56-yards, seven plays, 70-yards, four plays, 70-yards, and nine plays, 70-yards. That is a lot of yardage given up in very few plays. The defense got absolutely shredded and surrendered 45-points. That season, the Giants had games of 6, 7, 3, 7, 11, 14, 7, and 13 points. The absolute highest they had scored outside of the Colts game was 29. The Colts gave up 45… It seems impossible for the Colts’ defense to have flopped that hard, but somehow, they managed to.

This trip down memory lane won’t make Monday night’s loss sting any less. It might even make it hurt more, actually. Try and see it from the positive. There have been worse losses than the one the Colts suffered against the 49ers. The sun rose after those games, and it rose again today. Somehow, some way, the Colts still have a shot at the postseason. That wasn’t the case against the Giants. For them to still have any chance has to count for something.