At first glance, the Indianapolis Colts looked like a confident, high-caliber contender against the Denver Broncos in a hostile environment and a team ready to realistically make their playoff hopes come true in a must-win away game seemingly everything was at stake line.

The Horseshoe came out with a convincing 10-play, 70-yard opening touchdown drive –The crowning achievement was starting quarterback Anthony Richardson, who managed 23 yards untouched to the end zone. (To their credit, the Colts have been great at opening scripts lately).

The Colts defense played great, holding Denver to just 7 points at halftime and making Broncos starting quarterback Bo Nix look every bit like an unsettled rookie rather than the NFL’s rookie of the year frontrunner – with two interceptions already at the beginning of the 3rd quarter.

The Colts went into halftime with a 13-7 lead.

Hey, we’ll take it!

Then star workhorse Jonathan Taylor delivered the biggest bullshit of the entire season and was probably very important to his potential future Hall of Fame career.

With 12:43 left in the third quarter, Taylor appeared to have taken the ball 41 yards to the house, but when he checked again, he dropped the ball in celebration just before it crossed the goal line. The play was overturned and a touchback was declared, with the ball going back to the Broncos.

The Colts would have taken a 20-7 lead, which would have been a two-point game, but instead the lead remained less than one point – completely changing the complexion of the game.

That was the beginning of the end for Indianapolis.

In the biggest game of 2024, the dynamics on the road seemed to have changed.

However, Colts head coach Shane Steichen, trailing 24-13 on 2nd-and-7 at Denver’s 40-yard line with 12:29 left in the fourth quarter, refused to be outdone in his stupidity and called for a trick play Wideout Adonai Mitchell on a WR screen throwing the ball across midfield to quarterback Anthony Richardson –which was essentially blocked by Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto from 50 yards to paydirt (Although it was actually a fumble recovery because Mitchell’s pass attempt to Richardson was backwards).

For Indianapolis, it was adding insult to injury and it was truly “Dumb and Dumber.”

Taylor’s inexcusable fumble led to 24 unanswered points for the Broncos – en route to another crushing loss for the Colts, although much of it turned out to be self-inflicted.

The Colts have shown flashes, but against the NFL’s better competition this year, they seem unable to consistently produce intelligent, winning football – seemingly always in their own way.

The Colts defense held the Broncos to 193 yards of total offense and generated three takeaways, but still lost due to major fumbles on offense (and even some special teams).

The loss to Denver effectively puts the Colts’ playoff hopes on clear life support (with just a 6% chance of reaching the postseason) and barring a Christmas or New Year’s miracle, Indianapolis will once again miss the playoffs for the fourth year in a row (and after Having not won the AFC South since 2014, this was the longest losing streak of any member of their division.