Shane Steichen reveals how long Colts starters will play in final preseason game

The Indianapolis Colts will play their final preseason game this Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. It used to be tradition for the starters not to play in the preseason finale but now that teams have one less preseason game to work with (thanks 17-game schedule), resting the starters in the finale isn't always the case for some teams.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen spoke to the media on Tuesday and shared just how many minutes the starters are going to play on Thursday night. Steichen said that his starters will play into the second quarter.

Colts starters will play at least one full quarter vs. Bengals

Sometimes the starters will play but the quarterback, who is deemed the most important player on the field, gets a break. That won't be the case here, as Steichen made it a point to say that Anthony Richardson would also be suiting up and playing with the rest of the starters on Thursday night.

The good news is that this will give the starters more time to gel with each other and that it'll hopefully prepare them for the regular season opener against the on the rise Texans. The bad news is that it obviously increases the chance of a starter or key player getting injured before the regular season begins.

That being said, Steichen clearly has more he wants to see from his guys and maybe if they go out there and drive the ball down the field for a score, he'll feel comfortable enough to pull them before the end of the first quarter. Colts fans are just going to hope that there aren't any injuries and the team is ready to go in two weeks when they take on the Texans.

For what it's worth, the Bengals are going with the traditional approach of not playing their starters in the preseason finale. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said on Tuesday that the plan was to rest the starters.

Let's hope the Colts go out there on Thursday, cook the Bengals backups, and then can come out of the game quickly so no injuries occur.