The Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 21-16 and are now 1-2 on the 2024 season.
Staring down a potential 0-3 start, the Indianapolis Colts (badly) needed a win Sunday against the Chicago Bears. The Colts got just that and now improve to 1-2 on the 2024 as they look to a red-hot Pittsburgh Steelers’ team (3-0) coming to Lucas Oil in Week 4.
VINTAGE DAY FROM RUNNING BACK JONATHAN TAYLOR, GROUND GAME, HELP COLTS EARN NEEDED VICTORY
For the Colts, Sunday’s victory over the Bears starts with running back Jonathan Taylor, who looked like his vintage self with 23 rushing attempts for 110 yards and two rushing touchdowns. On a day where the Colts’ passing attack struggled behind 22-year-old quarterback Anthony Richardson, Taylor led the way with 135 all-purpose yards, helping spark life into an inconsistent passing attack for much of the afternoon.
Both Trey Sermon and Richardson added to the Colts’ 150-yard rushing performance, with 16 yards from Sermon and 24 from Richardson. In total, Indianapolis averaged 4.5 yards per attempt against a stout Chicago defense that surrendered only 75 rushing yards total to the Houston Texans the week prior.
Indianapolis certainly can’t expect to run their way to victories over the course of such a long season, but having Taylor and one of the league’s better offensive lines to lean on will be extremely beneficial for Richardson, who’s still very much learning his way around the NFL himself. Still, credit should be given where it’s due. Just one week after Taylor had 103 rushing yards on 12 carries, the Colts leaned on the All-Pro back early and often on Sunday and, as a result, were able to come away with a victory.
COLTS’ PASSING OFFENSE CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE BEHIND INEXPIERENCED QB ANTHONY RICHARDSON
Despite such a strong game from the Colts’ rushing attack, their passing game continues to struggle under second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson. In some ways, this should have been expected. After all, Richardson is the NFL’s youngest starting quarterback, and he’s still figuring out how to navigate and become a more efficient passer. There are going to be highs and lows with him starting at the helm, and the Colts have to be (and will be) patient with him.
This doesn’t take away from the fact that the 22-year-old now has back-to-back games with two turnovers. In fact, the kind of turnovers Richardson had are ones that he is going to need to improve on, with one coming early on in the red zone and costing the Colts a chance at a short field goal, and the other coming off missing a wide open Michael Pittman Jr. for a big gain.
As so many others have pointed out, you don’t take Richardson with the No. 4 overall selection in the 2023 draft if the plan is to bail on him after when he doesn’t even have double-digit starts in the NFL. Frankly, that idea is nonsense, and it’s not going to happen. Yes, Richardson must also work toward showing signs of improvements over the course of the season, but expecting him to have it all figured out so quickly, despite the flashes he has shown, is unrealistic. Growth and development are part of working with such an inexperienced quarterback, and time will tell if Richardson can piece it all together and be consistent enough at the NFL level.
COLTS’ DEFENSE COMES UP WITH KEY TURNOVERS, FOUR SACKS, IN STRONG EFFORT AGAINST BEARS’ OFFENSE
After a two-week stretch where the Colts’ defense just simply couldn’t stop the run and got in their own way, Sunday’s game went differently and may be the turning point this unit needed to get back on the right track. Sure, you wouldn’t exactly classify the Bears’ offense as one of the league’s best. But again, the Colts deserve credit for holding Chicago’s offense to 63 total rushing yards on just 2.3 yards per rushing attempt.
Indianapolis’ secondary deserves some praise, too, as the final box score doesn’t necessarily tell the full story of their efforts from Sunday’s victory. Much of Chicago’s offensive playmaking came when trailing.
Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was under duress for most of the day. The Colts, despite not having their best defensive player in defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, came away with four sacks and consistently applied pressure on Williams. The rookie No. 1 overall pick had some ugly moments of his own, tossing two costly interceptions to Colts’ second-year cornerback Jaylon Jones. Jones was stellar Sunday with five tackles and the two interceptions.
Jones wasn’t the only Colts player to have quite the impact Sunday, as rookie first-round pick Laiatu Latu had one tackle-for-loss and a crucial strip-sack of Williams late in the fourth quarter, which led to another rushing touchdown from Jonathan Taylor and a 21-9 lead for Indianapolis. Those are exactly the kind of plays the Colts drafted Latu for, especially as they continue to deal with injuries along the defensive line early this season. For Latu, the strip-sack couldn’t have come at a better time, as the Colts were clinging to a one-score lead.
