INDIANAPOLIS — They remained in character.
A team that has positioned itself for a serious postseason push with a complementary approach saw all three phases — offense, defense, special teams — make a difference Sunday afternoon at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium.
The postmortem from the Indianapolis Colts’ 34-14 loss to the Bengals involved shared blame from all areas. And let’s include a fourth — coaching.
No one could have walked out of the stadium and onto the charter bus for the ride up I-74 with a bounce in his step.
“It was just one of those days,’’ Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “It was not our day.’’
Steichen insisted he was blindsided by the top-to-bottom, start-to-finish inefficiency by a team that had won four straight and moved into the No. 6 seed in the fluid AFC playoff picture.
“We had a great week of preparation,’’ Steichen said. “The guys were locked in. The energy was great in the locker room before the game, pregame warmups, all that stuff. I felt really good.
“It wasn’t our day, obviously.’’
To be brutely honest, the Colts enjoyed 25 electric seconds.
After falling behind, 14-0, and facing a fourth-and-1 at the Cincy 2-yard line late in the second quarter, quarterback Gardner Minshew II hit tight end Mo Alie-Cox with a 2-yard touchdown with 1:56 remaining. Two plays and 25 seconds later, linebacker Ronnie Harrison Jr. intercepted a Jake Browning pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown.
Minshew’s two-point conversion pass to wideout Michael Pittman Jr. brought the Colts all the way back at 14-all.
The rest of the day, it was all Bengals. They scored the final 20 points of the game.
With, of course, a major boost from the Colts.
Indianapolis squandered a major opportunity to strengthen its pursuit for one of three wild card spots or the AFC South title on a day that saw Houston join them at 7-6 with a 30-6 road loss to New York Jets and Jacksonville backslide to 8-5 with a 31-27 loss at Cleveland.
Even so, the Colts essentially ended the day where they began — with a tenuous spot in the postseason. Because of six teams sitting at 7-6 and the accompanying tie-break scenarios, they’re the No. 7 seed behind Pittsburgh but ahead of Houston, Denver, the Bengals and Buffalo.
It promises to be a wild ride over the final four games, and that resumes Saturday when the Steelers visit Lucas Oil Stadium.
Blame the offense. Blame the defense. Blame special teams. And blame coaching.
“I think it definitely was out of character with what we’ve been doing these last few games – scrappin’, fightin’, clawin’, finding a way,’’ Minshew said.
“It wasn’t what we want to be about. A lot of self-inflicted wounds.’’
To recap the blame game:
*Offense: It began on the first snap of the game when Bengals’ end Trey Hendrickson bull-rushed left tackle Bernard Raimann for a sack of Minshew. It was arguably the worst game of Raimann’s second season, and the play set an ominous tone. Hendrickson finished with 2 sacks and two tackles for loss while Raimann was flagged for a false start, tripping and a hold, which was declined.
“He’s a force out there,’’ Bengals coach Zac Taylor said of Hendrickson. “You have to pay attention to him at all times.’’
The Colts rushed for just 46 yards against the NFL’s No. 27-ranked run defense — tailback Zack Moss managed only 28 on 13 attempts, and he’s mustered 79 on 32 attempts the last two games since starting back Jonathan Taylor underwent thumb surgery — and converted 3-of-14 third-down situations.
“Anytime you get one-dimensional,’’ Minshew said, “it gives the other team an advantage.’’
Minshew passed for 240 yards and the TD to Alie-Cox, but suffered his eighth interception when he was hit from behind by Hendrickson despite Raimann holding him on the play.
The Colts’ offense averaged just 4.5 yards per play.
*Defense: After piling up 21 sacks during the four-game winning streak, the Colts had none and were credited with just two hits on Browning. He accepted the protective pocket and passed for 275 yards and two TDs.
The Bengals piled up 385 yards and did so in chunks. They generated seven plays that gained at least 17 yards, and three covered at least 45. Three screens accounted for 124 yards — a 54-yard TD by halfback Chase Brown and 45 and 25-yard catch-and-runs by running back Joe Mixon.
Speaking of Mixon, the NFL’s No. 32-ranked run offense finished with 111 yards on 32 attempts. Mixon accounted for 79 on 21.
Despite converting just 3-of-11 times on third down, the Bengals mounted touchdown drives that covered 92, 72, 75 and 71 yards. The opening 92-yarder consisted of four plays and ended with Brown’s 54-yard TD.
“Credit to them,’’ Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “They came out and obviously just went right down the field — big play — got a touchdown and they just kept making play after play.
“We’ve got to be better.’’
*Special teams: Matt Gay had made 61 consecutive field-goal attempts inside the 40 before bouncing a 38-yard attempt off the left upright in the first quarter. He had knocked down 37 consecutive PATs before yanking one wide left in the second quarter. It was the first time Gay’s missed two kicks in a game since the final game of 2019 with Tampa Bay (three errant PATs).
“I have no concern about Matt,’’ Steichen said.
Any chance the Colts had to chase down the Bengals was snuffed out by a punt-return mishap early in the fourth quarter. They trailed 28-14, but the defense forced a punt. Returner Isaiah McKenzie muffed the return when Ameer Speed was blocked into him while he was signaling for a fair catch. Cincy recovered at the Indy 35 and six plays later, Evan McPherson pushed the lead to 31-14 with a 35-yard field goal.
With the Colts trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, McPherson drilled a 33-yard field goal for what would have been a 10-0 lead. However, a leverage penalty on Taven Bryan gave the Bengals a first-and-goal at the 7. Mixon pushed the cushion to 14-0 four plays later with a 1-yard TD.
Coaching: it rests with Steichen and the coaching staff to do whatever it takes to ensure such sloppy performances in the middle of a playoff push don’t occur.
“It was just kind of an avalanche of stuff that happened that we can’t allow to happen going forward,’’ Steichen said. “We’ve got the right men in that room.
“You on everyone in that locker room. Players and coaches, right?’’
We’ll see.
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.
