The Indianapolis Colts are in the middle of their first losing streak of the 2025 season. This week is the week they have to prove that their current slide is not going to transform into an all-out free-fall. To do that, they have to travel to face the Jacksonville Jaguars at home to salvage what once promised to be a dominant season.
It's no secret that the Colts have struggled against the Jacksonville Jaguars in recent years, no matter how good or bad the iteration of the Jaguars was. One need only bring up the name Carson Wentz to a Colts fan to bring them right back to the bitter memory of that fateful win, and you're in the playoffs scenario loss in the last game of the season against the lowly 3-14 Jaguars back in 2021.
Yes, Indy has been tormented by Jacksonville even when they're clearly the better team in recent memory, and what makes this matchup even tougher is that this Jaguars team is a quality squad.
Bold predictions for the Colts versus Jaguars Week 14 divisional showdown
After all, they currently lead the Colts' own division. Indianapolis is going to need some big-time players to step up and make big-time plays if they're going to secure a crucial win in Week 14. Here are three bold predictions for the game.
Prediction No. 1: Jonathan Taylor breaks out of his recent touchdown slump with a bang
Jonathan Taylor's most dominant game of his electrifying 2025 season came just before the Colts' bye week, back in Week 10 against the Falcons in Germany. In that game, he racked up an absurd stat line of 244 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Since the bye week, Taylor has yet to hit paydirt again.
By the time that Indy's game against the Jaguars rolls around, that means it will have been almost a month since Taylor touched the endzone, something that would have been unfathomable to a Colts fan if they were told it directly after the Atlanta game.
He's struggled more in the last two games than the entire rest of the season, but that doesn't mean that Jonathan Taylor's 2025 hasn't been spectacular. He's too special a player not to bounce back to the caliber that he was performing at before the bye week, so don't be surprised if Taylor manages to score multiple times again against Jacksonville.
Who knows, maybe he'll even hit that magical three rushing touchdown number that he's been so fond of this season.
Prediction No. 2: Charvarius Ward proves he was the Colts CB1 to start the year
Much has been made of Sauce Gardner's non-contact calf injury that he suffered at the start of the Colts game in Week 13 against the Texans. Luckily, it doesn't appear to be as catastrophic as it could have been, but Gardner will still be on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.
The Colts' cornerback room has had a rollercoaster season, with Ward himself having had two separate stints on IR, but when he has played, he has been elite. With Gardner being acquired at the trade deadline in a blockbuster, Ward was presumed to play the CB2 role for the rest of the year, but with Sauce out for at least the next few weeks, all of a sudden, Ward is the number one option at corner again.
With all of the flash of Gardner being acquired, it felt like Ward was almost more of an afterthought in the Colts' secondary for a while, stuck playing second fiddle. Against Jacksonville, Ward will remind the league why he was trusted to be Indianapolis's number one cornerback from the very start of the season, and he'll reel in his very first interception of the year.
Prediction No. 3: Colts kicking woes continue
Mercifully, the 2025 Michael Badgley Colts experiment has come to an end. It was a rocky tenure for the once-reliable kicker, but it was rare to see Indy trot him out for a field goal (or even an extra point) and be able to feel confident he would convert.
In fact, the straw that broke the camel's back came in Week 13 against the Texans, when his missed extra point on Indy's first touchdown of the game played a massive part in them ultimately losing. Since then, Indianapolis has let go of Badgley and signed former New Orleans Saints kicker Blake Grupe.
Grupe had an up-and-down Saints tenure to say the least. After all, if he had been consistently good, he would still be with his original team. Still, it's not out of the question that he just needed time to fully grow into being an NFL-level kicker.
At least, that's the hope that general manager Chris Ballard is banking on. Hopefully, Grupe pans out wonderfully, and the Colts have unearthed a hidden gem, but for his first game as a Colt, this bold prediction is that Grupe will miss at least one kick attempt.