The Indianapolis Colts’ season has fallen off the rails over the last few weeks. First, long-time general manager Chris Ballard was fired. Then, the Colts embraced a full-on rebuild, trading away veteran stars DeForest Buckner and Quenton Nelson. With the franchise in desperation mode, everything is on the table.
Heading into Week 8, the coaching staff still publicly backed Daniel Jones as the team’s starting quarterback, despite three straight losses. That streak continued against the Jacksonville Jaguars as the Colts’ offense could only score one touchdown in a 42-7 rout.
In the fourth quarter, Indianapolis finally benched Jones, though that might have been as much for the score as Jones' awfulness. In the post-game press conference, head coach Shane Steichen admitted that he’s evaluating all of his options, including whether Jones continues to be the Colts’ starter.
Indianapolis Colts QB Daniel Jones benched after Week 8 nightmare against Jacksonville
To understand how bad Jones looked against the Jaguars, you just have to take a peek at his stat line: only 144 passing yards, two interceptions (one returned for a Jacksonville touchdown), and three sacks.
Jones, once again, struggled in every aspect of the game — even the basics. He couldn’t read the defense, missed easy throws, and made bad decisions that led to turnovers. His only passing touchdown was to a wide-open Josh Downs, which is fitting given that Jones may have missed the window if it were any narrower.
The second interception encapsulated Jones’ poor play. Early in the fourth quarter, Jones got the ball out quickly with a clean-ish pocket and an open receiver in Tyler Warren. It should have been an easy completion. Instead, Jones threw the ball behind Warren and into the hands of Jacksonville linebacker Branson Combs. He was benched immediately following the pick.
Jones is now up to nine interceptions and 12 total turnovers in 2026, compared to only five touchdown passes. This season, he has the lowest touchdown rate in the entire NFL and the second-worst QBR. There was no doubt that this benching was a long time coming, and Week 8 was just the last straw.
Earlier in the season, Jones’ slow start could have been attributed to his recovery from tearing his Achilles last year. But eight weeks in, we’ve seen no signs of improvement from Jones at all. He doesn’t look any more comfortable, sharp, or accurate than he did in Week 1.
As we get deeper into the 2026 season, it's starting to look more and more like Jones’ half-season of brilliance in 2025 was just an anomaly. That leaves the Colts in a very difficult situation.
If the current version of Jones is truly his peak, Indianapolis has to somehow move on from him and eat his two-year, $88 million deal (the team could release him and save money, though). Then, the Colts need to find their 2027 starting QB without having a first-round pick this year. And by the way, they still don’t have a permanent GM to make these decisions about the team’s future.
For now, what we know is that Indianapolis is willing to make changes and is quickly losing patience with Jones’ performance. The Week 8 benching was not a definitive death sentence for Jones’ Indianapolis career, but he is officially on the hot seat.
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