INDIANAPOLIS - The Colts are turning the page to a trip to Minnesota, and the headlines around the week keep stacking up.
Indianapolis heads to face the undefeated Vikings on Sunday with a 2-4 record, a seven-game road losing streak, and a brutal history against quality opponents. The Colts have dropped 10 straight against teams sitting at .500 or better, and Shane Steichen’s group has also lost seven straight true road games. Steichen said the answer on the road is not some major adjustment, but sharper execution.
“No, it just comes down to execution,” Steichen said Wednesday. “The way we prepare, the way we work, we go to out and execute, especially on the road.
It’s a hostile environment. It’s one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL.
So we have to do a great job communicating, make sure the noise is cranked up in practice, so we can get the game-like reps in practice.”
Tyler Warren is one of the major Colts injury watch items this week. The rookie tight end was a game-time decision against the Titans after hurting his groin early in Friday’s final practice, and it was the first game he missed in his year-plus in the NFL. Steichen said Warren is “progressing really well” as the Colts got back to work Wednesday afternoon.
The same day brought another roster wrinkle, with interim GM Ed Dodds signing veteran punter Thomas Morstead after Rigoberto Sanchez suffered a foot injury. Special teams coordinator Brian Mason said there’s nothing “structurally wrong” with Sanchez’s foot, but the team brought in insurance anyway.
Morstead’s résumé is massive - 272 games and 1,004 career punts - but for Colts fans, the name still carries baggage. He was the rookie punter who executed one of the most famous onside kicks in Super Bowl history against Indianapolis in 2009, helping fuel the Saints’ comeback.
There is also a lot swirling around the Colts beyond Sunday’s matchup. After the firing of Chris Ballard, one angle being raised is the long-term shape of the roster and whether the team should consider moving some pillar players before the November 10 trade deadline. The idea, as laid out, is to stockpile better draft capital for a rebuild and give a new general manager a stronger base to work with.
Steichen, meanwhile, brushed aside any notion that his own pressure level suddenly changed after Ballard’s exit.
“I think there’s pressure in this league every year, regardless of circumstances,” the 4th year head coach said on Wednesday. “As the head coach, you got to lead this team.
You got to empower your players. You’ve got to guide them every single day and put them in position.
You have to put your head down and go to work. That’s all you can do.”
There’s plenty to worry about on the field, too. The Vikings’ defense, under Brian Flores, has been one of the league’s best.
Flores, who is also a former Dolphins head coach, was let go after a 5-11, 10-6, 9-8 run in Miami. He lost his first seven games as a head coach, then went 24-18 the rest of the way.
His quarterbacks in Miami were Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen in 2019, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tua Tagovailoa in 2020, and Tua Tagovailoa and Jacoby Brissett in 2021.
The Colts may not have Sauce Gardner available for the matchup with Justin Jefferson. Gardner is listed as “week-to-week” after injuring his left calf against the Titans, the same body part that caused him to miss four of the final five games last season. That matters because Jefferson carved up Indianapolis the last time these teams met in 2024, when he had five separate catches of at least 20 yards in a Vikings win.
And the Flores defense is coming in with a clear identity: pressure, takeaways, and a whole lot of discomfort for opposing offenses. The Vikings lead the league in takeaways and turnover margin this season. That’s a rough draw for a Colts team that already looked shaky in a 21-13 loss to Minnesota last year, when Joe Flacco threw three interceptions and Indianapolis never reached the red zone.
Minnesota is unbeaten at 5-0, but the box scores show a team winning more with defense and late-game force than offensive fireworks. The Vikings have scored 39, 9, 23, 15, and 23 points, and their wins have come against the Packers, Bears, Buccaneers, Dolphins, and Saints. They’re also returning from their bye and have been especially strong in the fourth quarter, outscoring opponents 44-3 in the final period.
Daniel Jones’ brief stint on Minnesota’s practice squad late last season could give the Colts some extra insight into Flores’ approach, and Steichen acknowledged that possibility. But the larger picture is hard to miss: Indianapolis is trying to stop a skid on the road, calm the noise after a front office shakeup, and figure out how to handle one of the league’s best defenses in a stadium that will make communication a problem all afternoon.
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