The end result of the Indianapolis Colts' Week 15 game was a loss, and there's no way around that. However, one of the most compelling storylines of the year in Philip Rivers, along with a herculean performance by Indy's defense, had the team in the game until the bitter end.
Just about nobody believed that the Colts, as injured as they are and starting freshly signed retiree Philip Rivers at quarterback, could realistically compete with one of the best teams in the NFL in the Seattle Seahawks.
Indianapolis not only competed, but they were leading for the vast majority of the game. This is definitely a loss that really hurts the Colts' playoff hopes, but with as handicapped as the team is right now, any playoff contention would have been (and still is) a long shot. Yes, the team came up short against Seattle, but they gave fans a lot of reasons to hope for.
Winners and losers from the Indianapolis Colts versus Seattle Seahawks in Week 15
Winner No. 1: Philip Rivers
The performance that Philip Rivers put up in Week 15 was nothing extraordinary. In fact, it was downright pedestrian most times. But what else could realistically be expected from a 44-year-old grandfather who just made a return to football this past week?
Rivers didn't play like a superstar, but he played towards the higher end of what could be expected of him. He looked exactly the part of the savvy veteran who knew the offense like the back of his hand but just didn't have the physical capability to be elite.
If a Colts fan were asked how the Colts game versus the Seahawks would go beforehand, the vast majority of fans would predict a double-digit loss, given how injured Indy is and how good Seattle has been. What Rivers accomplished was a performance that had the Colts winning for most of the game, and he deserves to be lauded for his efforts.
Winner No. 2: The entire defense
The defensive unit as a whole played so well against the high-flying Seattle Seahawks offense that credit couldn't be narrowed down to just one player. A special shoutout does deserve to be given to both Zaire Franklin and Laiatu Latu, as they were making plays all day, but the entire squad played exceptionally well, given their opponent.
Yes, the defense allowed the Seahawks to drive down into field goal range with just 52 seconds of game clock left, giving up the score that would lose the game. There's no getting away from that fact. They simply came up short in a high-pressure situation against a very good team.
Still, the fact that the team held the Seattle Seahawks, the team with the most productive receiver in the entire NFL, to only scoring field goals is an impressive feat in and of itself. Jason Myers was arguably the Seahawks' most valuable player of the day, not missing a single one of his six field goals. The team ultimately came up short of leaving Seattle with a win, but they sure did their best to shoot for one.
Loser No. 1: Alec Pierce
This selection is less an indictment of how Alec Pierce played and more of a statement of how well (considering the circumstances) the entire team played against Seattle. Philip Rivers is named as a winner in this article, but it would be a flat-out lie not to acknowledge how limited a quarterback he is at this stage of his career.
Rivers played well enough to keep the team in the game (with a lot of help from the defense), but he was by no means throwing the football all around the field. It's never a good sign when Ameer Abdullah is the leading receiver for a football team in 2025.
Pierce is named hear because of the expectations that come with his performances this year. Fans are used to high flying catches and huge swaths of yardage coming in chunk plays. He finished the day with one catch for 16 yards, and it was a vintage Alec Pierce contested catch.
It only makes sense given his quarterback situation, but Pierce failed to make that happen on more than one occasion, and that's why he lands in the loser category.
Winner No. 3: Blake Grupe
Wow, does it feel nice to have finally (potentially) found a reliable kicker for this Colts team. Grupe may have had a rocky start to his career, but he was absolutely lights out in this game. This was a game where it was so low scoring that every single point mattered, and Grupe rose to the occasion.
He finished the day going three for three on field goal attempts, but the highlight of the game for him came when he hit a go-ahead 60-yard field goal to give the Colts a lead with 52 seconds remaining. The defense did ultimately give up another field goal to lose the game, but had they not allowed another score, Grupe would be the toast of the town.
The kicker can't prevent teams from scoring; they can only make big kicks in high-pressure moments. That's exactly what Grupe did today, and it's tough to imagine a less consistent option like a Michael Badgley would have put that near game-winning field goal through the uprights. It may have been a loss, but Grupe deserves his flowers.