The Colts walked into Pittsburgh with a little bit of momentum and left with a familiar mess.
After snapping their nine-game losing streak in Week 3 against Houston and backing it up with a solid win over the Washington Commanders in Week 4, Shane Steichen’s team looked like it might be turning a corner. Instead, Sunday’s 34-22 loss to the Steelers shoved those encouraging signs right back out the door.
The score mattered, but the way Indianapolis got there was the real problem. The same issues that had been easing up started showing up again, and the Colts looked far too much like the team that had been stuck in the mud since the second half of 2025.
At this point, the broad diagnosis is simple. The defense isn’t good enough, and the offense is not strong enough to cover for it the way it sometimes did last year. That’s the ugly part for Indianapolis: the roster just isn’t built to absorb mistakes.
The defensive talent gap showed up fast
This wasn’t a case of a team quitting. The Colts played hard. But effort only goes so far when the talent level on one side of the ball keeps getting exposed.
If you’re trying to figure out which Indianapolis defenders would start for an upper-tier NFL team, the list is short. DeForest Buckner, Sauce Gardner, and Laiatu Latu are the names that stand out. Cam Bynum and Grover Stewart are good players, too, but those three are the only ones who sit well above average.
Beyond that, the holes are hard to miss. There isn’t a true upper-level linebacker on the roster.
There’s no depth on the edge once Latu is off the field. Even with Gardner in the mix, the secondary remains shaky.
Put it together, and it becomes a defense that’s easy to target.
Pittsburgh was a clear example. The Steelers came into the game sitting in the bottom half of the league in almost every important offensive category, yet they still hung 34 points on Indianapolis and averaged 6.5 yards per play after entering at 5.0.
That points straight back to roster construction. Chris Ballard hasn’t put enough quality defensive players in place, and it showed last season too. Nothing about Sunday was surprising because the same problem is still there.
The offense still has no real vertical punch
Steichen did try to push the ball downfield, though most of those attempts came late, when the game was already tilting away from the Colts. Those throws usually didn’t work. Still, he did take several shots on the third drive, and even though only one of the three deep balls was completed, the attempt to stretch Pittsburgh helped set up Indy’s first touchdown.
That issue is layered. Alec Pierce’s absence leaves the Colts without a dependable deep threat.
The scheme also isn’t creating enough chances on its own. Even without elite personnel, a creative passing game can manufacture explosive plays.
Steichen and pass game coordinator Alex Tanney haven’t been able to make that happen.
Daniel Jones is part of it, too. He’s nowhere near the version he showed last season. The read here is that he still looks physically or psychologically, or both, affected by his injury recovery.
Whatever the cause, the results are the same. He’s not throwing deep accurately, and he’s not using his legs the way he did before, which takes away another way to stress a defense and open up passing windows. Any final judgment on Jones probably has to wait until Pierce comes back, but right now the Colts simply do not have a dangerous offense, and the lack of a vertical game is a big reason why.
The red zone keeps bleeding points
Spencer Shrader made five field goals and kept building on what has been an excellent start to the 2026 season. The problem is obvious: five field goals don’t usually win many games, especially when the defense is giving up points at the other end.
Two of those kicks came from inside 30 yards, which says a lot about how clunky the red zone offense remains. Both came in the second half. If Indianapolis cashes in either of those trips with a touchdown, it takes the lead.
The first chance came with first-and-goal at the 3. Jonathan Taylor ran twice and lost a yard, then an incompletion forced the field goal.
The next series started with first-and-goal at the 10. Three straight incompletions followed, and again the drive ended with three points.
The bigger issue was the predictability. Up close, the Colts ran into a stacked front and couldn’t move it.
Then they threw on third down, which is probably exactly what the Steelers expected. From farther out, they threw on every snap.
It was the same kind of sequence that has shown up in other drives this season, including one earlier in this game.
At some point, the play-calling may need to stop following the script so closely. The suggestion here is simple enough: throw on first-and-goal from the 3, and maybe use the Jonathan Taylor dive when the ball is first-and-goal from the 10 and the defense is bracing for a pass.
The defense might improve a little with repetition, but it isn’t going to suddenly become elite. That means the offense has to become more dangerous, and it has to do it soon.
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Indianapolis still has work to do there, because the current group has not fully answered the need. Alec Pierce remains sidelined with a heel injury, leaving Josh Downs, Keenan Allen and Laquon Treadwell as the main options for now. The Colts were reportedly involved in the Harrison talks, but they came away empty-handed, and the bigger question is whether they can find a receiver solution before the season keeps pressing the issue for them. [Read more 🡒]