The Indianapolis Colts are 8-3, but could easily have lost their last three games. At least, Week 12's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was excusable to a degree. KC is difficult to beat at Arrowhead Stadium, and as long as Patrick Mahomes is playing quarterback, his team will have a chance to win.
While the trade for cornerback Sauce Gardner was supposed to help fix any potential late-game dramas, the issue with Indy's loss to the Chiefs wasn't truly the defense's fault. Did KC have nearly 500 total yards? Yes, but a significant reason is that the Colts' offense struggled to stay on the field.
Instead of giving running back Jonathan Taylor the ball a lot with the team up 20-9, head coach Shane Steichen decided to pass on that. Instead, he inexplicably kept having quarterback Daniel Jones throw the ball when eating the clock would have been much wiser. Taylor had just seven carries in the second half, and only one of those came in the fourth quarter.
Charvarius Ward drops the brutal truth about where the Indianapolis Colts currently stand
While the statistics will imply Indy's defense was a problem, the reality is quite different. Or, maybe what Colts fans saw from the team in the first eight games of the season was a bit of a lie, and the team isn't ready to be a Super Bowl contender yet. Cornerback Charvarius Ward believes so.
After the game, he told reporters, "(The Chiefs) have been Super Bowl contenders for the past seven, eight years. So we got to kind of get over that hump to be a great team. We gotta beat the best teams and I feel like we this close but we not there yet."
In other words, one of the best players on the roster doesn't yet think the Indianapolis Colts can be a Super Bowl-winning team. Yet. That could change as the season progresses, of course, or things could worsen.
The rest of the schedule is not easy. After losing to KC, Indy is just one game ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC South, and only two games ahead of the Houston Texans. Houston might be the more dangerous team, as its defense is truly great.
Indianapolis also has to play the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, so there are no easy games the rest of the way. The Colts could cement their status as a real contender and finish strong, or Indianapolis could miss the playoffs completely.
Fans will likely learn quite a bit about where the Indianapolis Colts truly stand in Week 13. The red-hot Texans visit Lucas Oil Stadium. A victory for Indy is a must, not just for the standings, but also for morale.