The Indianapolis Colts picked up another win on Sunday, defeating the Tennessee Titans 31-28 in an ugly overtime game. A big reason why the win was so ugly was quarterback Gardner Minshew. Minshew has played in every game this season, so Colts are pretty familiar with the roller coaster that is Minshew Mania. Minshew will make some incredible plays that leaves everyone shocked, but will also make some horrendous plays that will leave everyone shocked.
Sunday was the latest example of that. Gardner Minshew completed 26-of-42 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns. On the game-winning drive in overtime, Minshew led Indy down the field, completing 3-of-4 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown to win the game. However, the reason it took a great drive in overtime to win Sunday’s game had a lot to do with mistakes Minshew had made throughout the game.
In the second quarter, Gardner fumbled the ball on third and goal at the five-yard line. Instead of getting three points, Indy ended a productive drive with nothing. Later in the game, in the third quarter, the Colts blocked a punt for a touchdown. Indy opted to go for two so it would have a touchdown lead, but Minshew threw a pick that was returned for a touchdown on the two-point attempt. This resulted in two points for the Titans.
While these kind of up-and-down performances are expected from Minshew, it seemed like Minshew’s mistakes started to affect the play calling on Sunday.
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— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) December 3, 2023
Is Gardner Minshew affecting Shane Steichen’s play calling?
The sequence that has fans wondering if head coach Shane Steichen is losing trust in Minshew came at the start of the second half. The Colts had a beautiful 19-play, 70-yard drive to open the third quarter. However, once down in the red zone, the play calling got very conservative. Facing first and goal from the 10, the Colts handed to Zack Moss on the first two downs for two yards each. On third down, Minshew threw a quick pass to Zack Moss, resulting in a one-yard game.
The three play calls made everyone question if Steichen was hesitant to put the ball in Minshew’s hands.
Steichen knows that you can’t call a scared game. If you do, it’ll often lead to losing. That’s why Steichen had to essentially put the game in Minshew’s hands on Sunday to get the win. If the Colts want to keep winning this year, they have no choice but to trust Minshew. However, the quarterback has to stop making the kind of costly mistakes that causes people to lose faith in him.