Colts lose overtime thriller to Chargers

The Colts lost a heartbreaker in their opener, falling to the Chargers in L.A. 30-24. If it wasn’t for special teams mistakes, the Colts would’ve won the game.

Adam Vinatieri is not going to sleep well tonight. Nor should he. He missed two field goals and an extra point today, and that was the difference in the game. The Colts had to go for two at the end in order to tie it up to send it to overtime in the first place.

The defense also played poorly. They allowed a ton of running yards, and didn’t play well in the second half. Malik Hooker did have a great one-handed interception to give the Colts a chance at the end. They also had a couple of sacks. But their rush defense was incredibly poor against a backup running back.

Jacoby Brissett played well in his first game as a starter since 2017. He went 21 for 27 for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He didn’t make any spectacular plays, but he made enough. Eric Ebron dropped a touchdown pass late in the game that also could’ve given the Colts the tie sooner.

Marlon Mack was a huge bright spot in this game. Mack ran for a career high 174 yards and had a touchdown. He was fantastic in the second half especially, and was really a big reason the Colts were even in this game. The offensive line blocked extremely well.

Going into this game, the defense was thought of as the strong suit on this team. They clearly need to go back to the drawing board and figure some things out. Allowing 435 total yards won’t cut it, no matter who is playing quarterback.

There are some things to build on for sure though. This team was supposed to get crushed and be dead and gone this season. What they showed today is that they still have some fight in them, and are still a pretty good football team. This season isn’t lost.

They need to clean some things up and make sure Vinny can still kick the ball, but this team can still go places.