The Indianapolis Colts are on the road to take on the Los Angeles Chargers in week 7 of the 2025 season, kickoff is at 4:05 p.m. EST.
Last week our Colts squeaked by a Cardinals team that was led by Jacoby Brissett. Losing Mooney Ward before the game severely limited the secondary and Brissett seized the opportunity keeping pace with Indy’s offensive performance. The Colts were fortunate to escape with a win.
This week the Indy defense will be tested even further with Mooney Ward sent to IR and Justin Herbert staring down a depleted defensive backfield. Trade rumors were swirling that the Colts will be in a market for a cornerback at the deadline and even if Ward returns after the bye week, presumably, Indy will want to improve their CB2 spot for a late season run and playoff push.
But none of those rumors will matter today. Lou Anaruumo and his staff have to do something, anything to prevent Herbert and the Chargers offense from keeping pace with the prolific Indy offense. And we may see him attack the Chargers offense by sending pressure and lots of it at the interior of the Chargers offensive line. Bradley Bozeman has been nothing short of awful at center this season for LA, so between stunts and loops to stress the center I expect to see some pressure looks that will ensure Bozeman will have plenty of one on one matchups that Indy will fell good about. To make matters worse for the Chargers at the time of this writing it seems likely they’ll be down to their fifth (5th) and sixth (6th) string tackles. To counter this we might see the Chargers do what the Cardinals did a week ago and keep in six and seven blockers while making the Indy secondary cover their receivers downfield. If the Chargers go this route Indy absolutely must win their one on one assignments and h it Herbert early and often. They should be able to, Bozeman is bad and the tackles are worse. Even if the Colts rush four and the Chargers block with six, that’s two 1 on 1 matchups that the Indy front four has to win.
Defensively the Chargers have been unable to stop the run but they do expect to have Khalil Mack back after sustaining an arm injury earlier in the season. Mack is a good run defender who sets a hard edge so things won’t be as easy for Indy on the ground today as they have been for the last several Chargers opponents. I still expect the Colts to have a successful day on the ground. Josh Downs will miss this weeks game with a concussion and Ashton Dulin will miss this week with a chest injury as well. That means Ad Mitchell will return to the field and is likely to see plenty of playing time when the game actually matters. Hopefully he’s taken his benching well and will be ready to contribute.
This week’s game will be a big challenge for this Indy team. If they’re going to contend they need to be able to go on the road and get these kinds of wins against good opponents. Today will be a big test and could inform our expectations going forward.
Prediction:
Chargers: 31
Colts: 34
As always, go Colts.
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