Following Saturday’s blowout from the Los Angeles Chargers and a narrow victory from the Cincinnati Bengals over the Denver Broncos, the Indianapolis Colts‘ playoff chances are still alive heading into their final two contests of the season.

Yet, while the road for the Colts to go dancing in the postseason is feasible, it won’t be a simple feat.

With the Chargers’ 40-7 victory over the New England Patriots, they effectively lock themselves into the 7th playoff spot in the AFC, leaving one spot up for grabs between the Colts, Bengals, and Miami Dolphins.

The task for the Colts is simple across the upcoming two games: win out.

With the NFL’s 32nd-ranked strength of schedule against the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars, securing two wins down the stretch to go 9-8 on the season sounds simple enough. However, if the Colts want to find their way into that 7th seed, they’ll need some additional help, even if they win out.

Indianapolis will need to be in a three or four-way tie with the Broncos at a 9-8 record alongside the Bengals and/or the Dolphins in Week 18 to have what it takes to get the last spot in the AFC.

For that outcome to transpire, the Broncos will need to lose against the Kansas City Chiefs, along with either the Bengals defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, or the Dolphins winning vs. both the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets to tie with the Colts. If that happens, while the Colts take care of their business– they’re in.

What happens next for the Colts? Don’t miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second and sign up for our free newsletter and get breaking Colts news delivered to your inbox daily!

In the event of a multi-team tie in the standings, the deciding factor turns to each team’s win-loss record against their respective conference if they haven’t played head-to-head. For this case, Denver would have a 5-7 record against the AFC, Cincinnati would have a 6-6 record, and Indianapolis and Miami would tie at 7-5 if the Dolphins win out.

Since the Colts beat the Dolphins in Week 7, they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Miami, so long as Indianapolis wins out over the final two weeks.

Simply put, a lot needs to go the Colts’ way over this week and next to make a last-ditch effort for a postseason run, but it’s far from out of the cards.

The first step to making such a miracle happen for Indianapolis lands on Sunday afternoon when Joe Flacco and the Colts travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the Giants at 1:00 PM.

Want more Colts content? Check out the latest episode of the Horseshoe Huddle Podcast!

Follow Horseshoe Huddle on Facebook and X, and subscribe on YouTube for multiple Colts live-stream podcasts per week.

The Horseshoe Faithful have spoken this holiday season, and only 24% of Indianapolis Colts fans believe that the franchise is headed in the right direction:

That is slightly up from 17% following the Colts’ home win last weekend against the lowly Tennessee Titans (3-12), but is well within the dregs of optimism. That being said, the Colts have gone 5-5 in their last 10 games, and their inability to beat any of the NFL’s better competition down the stretch this season will likely cost them a wild card playoff spot.

With the Los Angeles Chargers big road win at the New England Patriots on Saturday, the Colts have just a 9% now of making the playoffs.

In reality, their only win against the NFL’s better competition was at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers during Week 4. Otherwise, the Colts have beaten up against the league’s weaker competition, and also had a bad loss during Week 5 at Jacksonville.

Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson has already been ruled out for Sunday on the road against the New York Giants, meaning Indianapolis will turn to veteran Joe Flacco again.

Honestly, it feels like yet another lost season for Indianapolis, in an AFC South where the leading Houston Texans (9-7) haven’t been all that impressive for a consecutive season.

The Colts inability to capitalize in one of the league’s weakest divisions yet again is concerning, especially when it’s really been a ‘lost decade’ for the Colts collectively.

The Colts haven’t made the playoffs since 2020, and they haven’t won the AFC South since 2014, having the longest drought of any divisional team to do so.

Despite the turbulence faced by the Indianapolis Colts on both sides of the ball this season, they’ve still found their way into the late playoff push with just two games left in the year.

However, while the Colts might be alive in the hunt, they’ll have to iron out a few issues within their recent displays which may inevitably make or break their chances for a playoff spot for the first time since the 2020 season– especially on the offensive side of the football.

As ESPN and Aaron Schatz rattled off the most concerning stat trends within the NFL’s playoff bubble teams, the Colts had one of the most interesting to note of the bunch, and possibly the most impactful on the list– their pass offense.

“Pass offense is a pretty big category, but the entire concept is a problem for the Colts,” Schatz said in his rationale. “Indianapolis ranks between 13th and 15th in DVOA for run offense, run defense, pass defense, and special teams. But the Colts rank 25th in pass offense DVOA. If they don’t make the playoffs this season, the blame falls on the passing game.”

What happens next for the Colts? Don’t miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second and sign up for our free newsletter and get breaking Colts news delivered to your inbox daily!

The passing attack for the Colts has been nothing short of up-and-down across the entire season.

A rough start for Anthony Richardson eventually led to veteran backup Joe Flacco getting a couple of starting reps in the middle of the season. Then, Richardson returned to QB1 two weeks later to take the reins. Now leading into this week vs. the New York Giants, the situation under center is up in the air again as Richardson is listed as questionable ahead of Sunday’s contest.

It’s been a whirlwind on the offensive side. Yet, regardless of who’s taking the snaps on Sunday vs. the Giants, the Colts must be more efficient in their passing attack. Richardson throwing under a 50.0% completion rate for the year is far from sustainable to keep putting wins on the board, even as an elite threat in the run game.

In fact, Schatz mentions that the Colts’ passing offense has seen a bit of a drop-off in production from their short time with Flacco under center.

“Things have been worse with Anthony Richardson at quarterback than they were with Joe Flacco,” Schatz continued. “Richardson has incredible rushing skills and is also good at avoiding sacks. The problem is throwing the football. Richardson ranks 32nd out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks in passing EPA, barely ahead of the Titans’ Will Levis. Richardson is ridiculously behind every other qualifying QB in completion percentage. He’s completing 48% of his passes this season, while every other quarterback is above 60%.”

It’s no secret that Richardson’s development has been a project since being drafted two years ago, but with a second-to-last EPA per play right ahead of a now-benched Will Levis, something has to change fast.

Thankfully, easy matchups for the next two weeks against the Giants and the Jacksonville Jaguars can make a simple path for Richardson to perform well if he suits up. The fourth overall pick of the 2023 draft has shown clear flashes of talent and ability to be the franchise guy during parts of his first two years in the league, yet the details need some fine-tuning.

Want more Colts content? Check out the latest episode of the Horseshoe Huddle Podcast!

Follow Horseshoe Huddle on Facebook and X, and subscribe on YouTube for multiple Colts live-stream podcasts per week.