Win over Bengals doesn’t exonerate Colts from incredibly sloppy play

The Colts defeated the Bengals on Sunday, but it wasn’t a “good” win.

It took 16 minutes for the Indianapolis Colts to go down 21-0 to an inferior Cincinnati Bengals team on Sunday afternoon. though they managed to score three touchdowns and only trail 24-21 by halftime, it was a horrific display from a team that is much better than the results are showing.

On top of that, the Bengals, though up-and-coming and promising in many areas, are largely a bad team. Their offensive line is one of the worst in the league. They cannot defend the run. They’re not disciplined. They’ve won three games since the start of 2018.

The Colts kept this team in the game for a full 59 minutes. Julian Blackmon ended the terrifying rollercoaster ride with a game-sealing interception, but that was on a drive into Indy territory to decide the afternoon.

Cool your jets, folks. That’s a rookie quarterback. It’s not like you’re intercepting Tom Brady to cap off a thriller. You’re capitalizing on a bad mistake to save yourselves from the ultimate embarrassment.

And let’s be clear. Nobody is off the hook here. Frank Reich did not have his team prepared. The offense was playing frantically from behind for the entire game, which is far from its successful style. The defense, once again, put the team in a near-insurmountable hole to start this one off.

With seconds remaining in the first half, Jonathan Taylor was the team’s leading receiver. Tight end Jack Doyle caused himself to fumble on the first drive of the game. Philip Rivers threw another near-game-ruining interception when he tried to force a ball into double coverage on 2nd and 10 with the Colts up by a point early in the fourth quarter. Though he had a great day (29/44 for 371 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT), that could’ve negated all the positives.

The Bengals’ rookie tandem of Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins had their way with Indy. Burrow threw for 313 yards on 25 completions and Higgins caught six balls for 125 yards … against (statistically) the best defense in the NFL. As for Indy’s offense? They ran the ball 15 times against one of the worst rush defenses in the NFL.

A win is a win. The Colts are 4-2. But it’s hard to feel good about facing the Lions, Ravens, Packers and Titans (twice) in their next five games. The coaching staff really needs to tighten things up during the bye week or else this could be another lost season.

Colts’ horrific start against Bengals proves this is all on the coaching

The Indianapolis Colts were trounced by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first half of Sunday's game, and we simply have to put the coaching staff on blast.