“At the end of the day, you can’t hope for other people – you can’t keep hoping for other people to come in. We have to help ourselves,” defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. “And that is doing business this weekend against the Titans, and then next week with the Giants, and the week after that with the Jags. We have to take it week by week and do our part and at the end of the season however it works, with a little hope and a little help maybe it will work. But at the end of the day, we have to do our part first.

Of course, none of that matters if the Colts can’t take care of a 3-11 Tennessee Titans team that has lost five of its last six games and made a change at quarterback this week, adding second-round pick Will Levis 2023 pick, benching veteran backup Mason Rudolph. The Colts are on a three-game winning streak against the Titans, but those wins came by margins of three, three and seven points; The last time the Colts beat the Titans by multiple points was Week 10 of the 2020 season.

“We have to control what we can control,” head coach Shane Steichen said, “and what we can control is the Tennessee Titans.”

But regardless of who the Colts play — every team still on the schedule has at least 11 losses — it matters more how the Colts play down the stretch than who their opponent is.

The Colts committed five game-breaking turnovers and were assessed eight deflating penalties in their Week 15 loss to the Broncos. In six games this season against teams with a losing record, the Colts have averaged 1.3 turnovers per game; In eight games against teams with a winning record, the Colts averaged 2.1 turnovers per game.

The Colts are 5-1 against teams with a losing record (the only loss came in Week 5 at Jacksonville) and 1-7 against teams with a winning record (the only win came in Week 4 against Pittsburgh). But the Colts haven’t won a game by more than six points this year; their last four losses were by eight points (against Minnesota), 10 points (against Buffalo), 18 points (against Detroit) and 18 points (Denver).

“We need to raise our standards,” Steichen said. “It starts with myself, with everything. We have to get better. I told the guys (this week), man, we have to play for each other. We have to play together and attack every day to get better so we can play a complementary game of football.

As long as the Colts have nothing left to play for, all they can and will do is believe that winning their final three games gives them a chance to make the playoffs.

“We know we still have a chance, a slim chance,” said tight end Mo Alie-Cox, “but a chance is a chance.”

But even if the Colts are eliminated from the playoffs sometime before Week 18, this team’s mentality must remain resolute. Veterans in the locker room have stressed this week that nothing is guaranteed in the NFL except the game in front of you – and with three Sundays left in this regular season, these final opportunities will be important, regardless of the outcome for the AFC. Playoffs matter or not.

“I think the motivation going forward is, ‘Hey, we have a chance to play the Tennessee Titans at home and beat them.’ Do you know? That’s our motivation and that’s how you have to look at it,” said Steichen. “We all have jobs to do, and we have to have a great week of preparation…The motivation for us is we need some help getting into this thing, and we all know that, but we have to get our jobs done.” and we have a whole week to prepare for the trip to Tennessee.