Colts play with their food in Week 8 before unleashing Jonathan Taylor

Good teams beat most other teams, of course, but great teams make sure that their poor opponents never have room to breathe. The Indianapolis Colts are a great team. They proved that again in Week 8 versus the Tennessee Titans, but it took a little longer than it should have.

Not that the Titans ever should have felt like they were going to win, but that they still had hope they might have. Indy led 17-7, but it could have been much worse. The Colts seemed not to want to use elite running back Jonathan Taylor too much because that would have made things too easy.

On Indianapolis's first drive, quarterback Daniel Jones threw the ball seven times, while Taylor only ran the ball once. It was a very unlike-2025 Colts offense drive. It finished with a field goal. On the next drive, head coach Shane Steichen got Taylor more involved, and the drive ended in a touchdown. 10-0 ultimately meant the game was over, for all intents and purposes.

Indianapolis Colts overwhelm Tennessee Titans (again) in Week 8

Still, Tennessee got to within 17-7 before the end of the first half with a chance to make a 58-yard field goal to get within a touchdown. The kick was just wide right. A made kick might have changed the narrative, as the Titans also had the ball first in the second half.

Any hopes Tennessee had were crushed in a brilliant third quarter by Indianapolis. One of the team's two touchdowns was an 80-yard jaunt by Jonathan Taylor. At that point, he had carried the ball nine times for 153 yards and two touchdowns. (He finished, oddly, with the same amount of yards but on 12 carries. He also scored on a 19-yard catch and run.)

It simply felt like Indianapolis was taking it a bit easy on Tennessee, but that doesn't happen in the NFL. What was really happening was the Indianapolis Colts were blowing another opponent out (Indy has won five games by at least two touchdowns in the first eight games of the year), but this time not playing the absolute best.

That makes the Colts the most dangerous team in the league. A banged-up defense might bend but never breaks. The offense, meanwhile, is a thing of beauty, leading the league in efficiency and points, but making the whole thing look easy.

The schedule does get a little tougher; at least Indianapolis will be facing tougher defenses, such as the Houston Texans twice, the Seattle Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Those will test Shane Steichen, Daniel Jones, and Jonathan Taylor. Or maybe they won't. The Colts appear unstoppable at this point.