Anthony Richardson has problems - but it's still too early for the Colts to give up on him

Suffice it to say, Anthony Richardson has had a rough few days. The Indianapolis Colts lost to the Houston Texans, putting them at 4-4 halfway through the season, and that loss resurrected calls for Richardson to be benched in favor of veteran quarterback Joe Flacco. It didn't help that, once again, Richardson had an abysmal QB rating... so bad, in fact, it's the lowest in a season for a qualified quarterback in 20 years. Then, of course, there was his mind-boggling decision to tap out of a play because he was tired. The calls for Flacco have officially become deafening, and they're coming from inside the house now, too.

However, benching Richardson would be a mistake. It would be massively unfair to Richardson himself, whose problems can be traced directly back to the failures of his own head coach, and it wouldn't benefit the Colts, either.

Shane Steichen and Colts are failing Anthony Richardson

Richardson's quarterback rating Sunday was awful, but reviewing the game shows something perhaps unexpected: he wasn't playing poorly. In fact, many of his incompletions were due to dropped balls by his receivers, not bad throws. The offensive line also was strangely off form, too; the Colts have one of the best o-lines in the league, but Sunday, they didn't play like it. Richardson was pressured, tackled, or sacked constantly.

Yet he still showed improvement, believe it or not. His footwork and reads were both better, his passes were more accurate. He still had his issues, but he was playing better.

Then there's Steichen himself. A constant refrain from the head coach has been that his play-calling has failed Richardson, putting him into situations that the 22-year-old Richardson cannot be successful. Yet Steichen changed virtually nothing Sunday, continuing to call absolutely insane plays that did nothing to help the offense fight off the Texans, and is now seemingly throwing Richardson under the bus afterwards.

The Colts had Jonathan Taylor, one of the best running backs in the league, back on the field. He could have, and should have, run the damn ball. He could have gone with shorter, quicker passing plays to set Richardson and his receivers up for success.

Instead, Steichen had Richardson throw deep passes out of the pocket over... and over... and over... and over again.

Steichen seems intent on forcing Richardson on being a traditional pocket passer in the vein of Peyton Manning, as opposed to what he is: a dual threat who can run and break tackles, in addition to having a cannon for an arm. Richardson's athleticism is what kept him from being sacked as many times as he could have been on Sunday.

Sunday, he had five sacks and 10 quarterback hits thanks to a porous offensive line, as well as a defense throwing non-stop blitzes and a head coach who gave him no tools to handle any of it.

Richardson was set up to fail on Sunday, and now he's being blamed for it.

Benching Richardson won't help the Colts

Short-sighted Colts fans are begging Flacco to be named the starter in an effort to salvage their chances of making it to the playoffs. But let's be clear: the Colts aren't winning the Super Bowl this year. Not with Flacco, not with Richardson, not with anyone.

It could be argued that a short-term break with Flacco taking the lead isn't a bad idea; the Colts are set to take on the Minnesota Vikings without left tackle Bernhard Raimann, who is in concussion protocol, and with their best receiver -- Michael Pittman, Jr. -- playing through a bad back.

But sitting Richardson for too long would be disastrous all the way around.

Flacco is pushing 40. He will not be able to realistically fight off the league's best defenses in the playoffs, and even in the best-case scenario, the Colts are not going to be able to defeat the Chiefs, the Bills, or the Ravens. This is not the Colts' year. Choosing to make Flacco their starting QB for the rest of the season would be immensely damaging in the long-term, and condemn the Colts to, at best, mediocrity for the near future.

Even better? If Flacco does well enough and the Colts do make the playoffs, it will ruin any chances of a decent draft pick, while all but discarding their current starting quarterback -- Richardson -- making them in need of another franchise QB. Thus the Colts quarterback carousel that fans have been riding since losing Andrew Luck will start again.

The Colts need to think long-term, and not about immediate gratification. Yes, Flacco can lead the Colts to the playoffs, where they'll surely be eliminated right away, and the Richardson haters will be momentarily silenced. But there will be no ability to build upon that success in the 2025 season. So really, what will that really do for the team?

It's far better to have Steichen drastically change his offensive outlook and work more on developing Richardson into the quarterback he can be, so the Colts can have him for years to come, instead of going through one QB after another in a never-ending chase for mediocre results.