The injury report for the Indianapolis Colts appeared to be ticking up ahead of Week 16. The team was going to get star defensive lineman DeForest Buckner back against the San Francisco 49ers. Things took a turn for the worse a day before the game.
Indianapolis announced that left tackle Bernhard Raimann, who hurt his elbow in Week 15, will miss the game. He was previously listed as questionable. His absence likely means the Colts will turn to Luke Tenuta to start, and that might be quite grave.
San Francisco struggles to get much pressure on opposing quarterbacks and only has 16 sacks this season (last in the NFL by a good amount). The problem with Tenuta starting, however, isn't that San Francisco will finally be able to get pressure on a quarterback, but that the replacement left tackle is not good at run-blocking.
Indianapolis Colts won't have left tackle Bernhard Raimann against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 16
Most likely, the Colts' game plan entering any game with Philip Rivers at quarterback is to use a short passing game where Rivers gets the ball out of his hands quickly. That won't change against the 49ers, but the real hope for Indy's offense was to use running back Jonathan Taylor to dominate time of possession and win a low-scoring game.
Tenuta's presence will make Taylor's job more difficult. Raimann is good in all aspects of his job, but he is brutally efficient in terms of opening holes for running backs. His replacement has only played 33 total snaps in his four-year career, and he was fairly bad filling in for Raimann in Week 15 against the Seahawks at blocking for the run.
He must be better against the 49ers, something akin to the excellence Raimann normally provides. An even more limited Colts offense than what fans saw against Seattle isn't going to be good enough to beat Brock Purdy and his friends.
The Indianapolis Colts also must win against the San Francisco 49ers. A loss won't end the season completely, but it would mean Indy needs to finish with two straight victories while getting a lot of help from other teams losing. The loss of Bernhard Raimann will hurt, but be made worse if Luke Tenuta is terrible.
The other option than Tenuta could involve right guard Matt Goncalves moving to right tackle, having rookie right tackle Jalen Travis (who is playing because the usual starter at right tackle, Braden Smith, is on injured reserve) switch over to left tackle, and having either Danny Pinter or Dalton Tucker play right guard. No matter what happens, not having Raimann is a big loss.