Colts blow another halftime lead, lose to Bengals

The Colts continued the same narrative they had all of last season; blowing halftime leads. They fell to the Bengals in the opener 34-23.

The game was within reach. They had it. The Colts were up 16-10 at halftime. Then they had a 23-10 lead. But once again, they couldn’t hold the lead. They allowed 24 unanswered points and couldn’t mount a comeback when it mattered.

Andrew Luck looked good after his first pass of the game. He threw a pick in the red zone right after a Kenny Moore interception gave the Colts great field position. After that, he was nothing but stellar. But in the second half, the offense seemed to go more conservative.

The defense showed good moments. They forced two early turnovers and only allowed 10 first half points. But they got destroyed in the second half. They couldn’t stop the run all game and allowed big plays late in the game. They also had way too many costly penalties.

This was Frank Reich‘s first game as coach, so he doesn’t fit the narrative of the Colts of the past. But it looked like the same old team. They got conservative with playcalling. They couldn’t run the ball in the second half. Luck couldn’t get enough time late in the game. And they had crucial late game turnovers.

Jack Doyle had a back-breaking fumble as they were mounting a comeback that was returned for a touchdown. The Colts did that all of last year as well. They had turnovers in costly areas of the game and couldn’t overcome them.

This loss stings for Indy. It is their fifth straight opening loss, and they were facing a Bengals team that doesn’t project to be very good. Until they can fix their mistakes, expect more of the same moving forward.