The Indianapolis Colts took care of business against the Tennessee Titans with a 38-30 home win on Sunday. The victory means the Colts are still alive in the playoff race, but they’ll need some help.

Most importantly, the Colts must win against the New York Giants in Week 17. The Giants are coming off a 27-point loss to the Atlanta Falcons and have lost their last 10 games.

The Colts opened as -8 point favorites against the Giants on DraftKings Sportsbook. This is the largest spread in a Colts game all season. Indy is coming off a win where they covered the -3.5 point spread against the Titans.

In the money line, the Colts are -455 favorites ($100 to win $21.98). The Giants are listed at +350 ($100 to win $350), despite being the home team.

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The Giants have had a few hardships this season and eventually made the decision to cut starting quarterback Daniel Jones. Drew Lock has started three of the last four games for the Giants but has struggled tremendously.

Looking at the two rosters, the Colts have more firepower. Running back Jonathan Taylor and quarterback Anthony Richardson helped set the franchise record for most rushing yards in a game and will look to repeat their performances at MetLife Stadium.

If you’re looking to bet on a points total, Colts @ Giants is listed at O/U 40.5. Colts games have hit that over in six of the last eight while Giants games have exceeded that amount in five of the previous eight.

Colts @ Giants will kick off at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 29th at MetLife Stadium. It’s a must-win game for Indianapolis if they want a shot at the postseason.

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As many as 7 million people a month visited the IndyStar online this year and it’s my job to help reporters and editors understand what they’re reading.

These journalists give me plenty of data to work with, too, because no one covers Indianapolis like IndyStar. Through mid-December, IndyStar published more than 10,000 articles, 1,000 photo galleries and nearly 2,000 videos. That’s nearly 30 articles, three photo galleries and five videos each day (you get a lot with a subscription) and that’s not even counting the statewide and national news produced by other USA TODAY Network newsrooms across Indiana.

As we prepare to put a very newsy 2024 behind us, let’s take a look back at some of the most widely followed storylines and coverage topics of the year, in no particular order:

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever

By the time Clark made her Fever debut, she was already a household name for many college basketball fans. But her WNBA Rookie of the Year performance took her star power to another level with fans around the country.

Clark’s skills on the court drew a lot of attention (and fouls) from her opponents, too, and her work helped the Fever reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

IndyStar’s Chloe Peterson put on a rookie of the year campaign of her own in 2024, covering Clark at Iowa as student and landing in Indianapolis before the WNBA Draft, just in time to cover arguably the biggest story in women’s sports this year.

Clark put on an incredible show and Peterson and IndyStar were there for it all, publishing nearly 300 articles since April and making the Fever beat IndyStar’s most-read of the year.

While Clark isn’t playing overseas or in 3-on-3 leagues this summer, Fever fans will likely have good reason to read every word again during the 2025 season. And IndyStar makes it easy, too: subscribe to the Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.

Richard Goodall on “America’s Got Talent”

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Richard Goodall says community support was ‘immeasurable’ in AGT win

“I left it all on the stage,” Goodall told reporters Friday. “And not only did I try to pull through for you guys, you guys pulled through for me.”

If seeing someone live out a dream brings a smile to your face, you’ll remember Richard Goodall’s going from middle school janitor to Journey frontman for a day.

The Vigo County, Indiana, native won over judges and IndyStar readers while winning Season 19 of “America’s Got Talent” by performing Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” and Journey’s “Faithfully,” among others.

The most memorable moment was seeing Goodall bring back his audition song, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” this time with the legendary rock band on the season finale where he won the $1 million prize.

The Indianapolis 500

It would be hard to make this list any year and say the Indy 500 didn’t belong on it, even if the results looked familiar with Josef Newgarden repeating as champion and Team Penske earning its record-extending 20^th Indy 500 victory.

The didn’t mean the race was completely predictable, though. Pato O’Ward gave a challenge that Newgarden held off by a mere 0.3417 seconds and an hours-long rain delay emptied out the grandstands and pushed the race back to nearly 5 p.m.

The race was also notable for anyone following the money. Newgarden’s repeat victory earned him more than $4 million in prize money as he became the first back-to-back winner since Helio Castroneves did so in 2001-02.

The Delphi murders trial

One of America’s most haunting cases finally saw some closure in November when Richard Allen was found guilty of all four counts against him in the deaths of Abigail “Abby” Williams and Liberty “Libby” German.

The coverage of this case also highlighted the importance of local journalists. IndyStar’s staff spent months preparing to cover this high-profile case fraught with misinformation and got assists from around the USA TODAY Network, including the expertise of Lafayette Journal & Courier reporter Ron Wilkins, who has been reporting on the case since it began.

The team of reporters and visual journalists worked through plenty of logistical hurdles to bring close-to-live updates to readers each day, detailing everything from the heartwrenching witness testimony to details about Allen’s prison confessions.

And while Allen was found guilty, he’s likely to appeal and you can count on IndyStar to follow any updates to the case.

The solar eclipse

IndyStar published plenty of words about this once-in-a-lifetime celestial event for many Hoosiers but the photo staff’s images told the story best. Bonus: This video of fans viewing totality at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Honorable mention

A few pieces of standalone coverage that resounded with readers in 2024:

INDIANAPOLIS — Jonathan Taylor made a lightning-quick jump cut through the hole and saw nothing but daylight ahead.

Once the Indianapolis Colts running back reached the goal line, some 65 yards later, his run was still not complete. Taylor kept going, running into the tunnel that leads to the Colts’ locker room in the southwest corner of Lucas Oil Stadium. It was Taylor’s way of sending a message: This time, he would hold on to the football after arriving at the end zone — something he did not do a week ago.

Taylor reached the end zone two more times Sunday, including a 70-yard scoring run, during his 218-yard performance in the Colts’ historic 38-30 win over the Tennessee Titans. Indianapolis’ offense dominated the line of scrimmage, rushing for a franchise-record 335 yards in a victory that kept the team’s faint playoff hopes alive. The Colts surpassed the previous high established in 1956, nearly three decades before the franchise left Baltimore for the Midwest in 1984.

It was Taylor’s second career 200-yard performance behind only his career-high 253-yard game in the final week of the 2020 season. His most recent performance came on the heels of last Sunday’s game in which Taylor committed a costly miscue, dropping the ball prematurely as he crossed the goal line on a would-be 41-yard run that could’ve given Indianapolis a two-touchdown lead.

The Colts went on to lose the critical matchup, dealing a severe blow to their playoff hopes. Taylor didn’t make the mistake again this week.

“I had already predetermined in my mind that next time, I’m going all the way in the tunnel,” Taylor said Sunday.

In fact, Taylor approached the whole situation with levity. He and backup running back Tyler Goodson planned a bit ahead of the game. After Taylor emerged from the tunnel, Goodson ran up to him and playfully tried to strip the ball, with Taylor keeping a tight grip.

“Just trolling, making the crowd laugh a little bit,” Goodson said.

In reality, there was nothing funny about the way the Colts pushed around the Titans. Tennessee allowed the most rushing yards of any team this season and the second most in Titans/Oilers franchise history. The Colts made no pretense about their intentions, either, at one point running on 12 consecutive plays during three possessions in the second quarter.

“That’s kind of the exciting part,” Taylor said “It’s kind of when you start imposing your will, establishing that line of scrimmage. Those are the types of football games as a running back … you love.”

Tight end Mo Alie-Cox added: “By the end of the game … we were still getting 5 yards a pop. They still couldn’t really stop it. They were calling it, but they couldn’t do nothing about it.”

Then, Alie-Cox relayed a story that unfolded before a particular play.

“It’s hilarious,” he said. “One time, they were like, ‘It’s a screen. Boom.’ And then one of their [defensive] ends was like, ‘Man, they’re about to give it to Jonathan Taylor. He’s about to run for 300 [yards] on us.’ Once he said that, I was like, ‘Yeah, we got him.’”

In light of the rushing success, Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson wasn’t asked to do much from the pocket. He completed just 7 of 11 passes for 131 yards. But Richardson was a part of the rushing bonanza, running for a career-high 70 yards.

Now, the Colts hope to finish with wins over the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars in their remaining two games, along with hoping numerous other dominoes fall their way in their bid to make the postseason.