Week 6 was supposed to be a get-right game for the Indianapolis Colts.
The winless Tennessee Titans were coming to Indiana. They were starting one of the league's worst quarterbacks in Cam Ward. Their offense ranked dead last in both points scored and yards gained. They'd scored more than 10 points only twice in that 0-5 stretch.
Tennessee's defense was better, but not good. It ranked in the bottom quartile of teams when it came to expected points added (EPA) allowed per snap. Daniel Jones was far from his 2025 revival -- which can at least be explained by his recovery from the torn Achilles that ended his season last fall -- but the Titans offered a long runway to take flight once again. With the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars duking it out in London, there was room to make a statement and stay afloat in the AFC South.
Indeed, the Colts broadcast their thesis to the world. It's that everything must go.
Indianapolis, a home touchdown favorite over one of the NFL's least cohesive teams, lost to the Titans' collection of misfit toys despite taking a 13-0 lead into halftime. Jones, against the league's 27th-ranked passing defense, completed only 22 of 42 passes. His offense opened up the second half with a fumble, interception, punt and then a blocked punt that knotted the game at 13-all.
The Colts answered quickly to tie the game, but that would be their only points after the break. Tennessee escaped with a 26-20 win on a day it gained 184 total yards and Ward completed only 11 of 22 passes.
Jones' line in the second half? 10 for 21 (and an additional incompletion on a spike) and 126 yards. He threw an interception and found the end zone zero times. That would be manageable, if inefficient if it weren't for his third down numbers. Let's break it down:
- completion for 11 yards, first down (immediately followed by an interception)
- sack
- incompletion
- sack
- incompletion
His net yardage on third down in the final two quarters against a Titans defense with the league's 23rd-best pressure rate? -3.
This is what the Colts signed up for. This is what general manager Chris Ballard wanted.
Ballard has been at the helm for the last decade. His teams are 72-82-1 in the regular season and have exactly one playoff win to show for it -- and that was with Andrew Luck behind center. Wandering through a quarterback desert convinced him not to allow good to be the enemy of great. When Jones led the team to a 7-1 record to open 2025 before falling off due to injury, he bought in.
That meant extending Jones and deep threat Alec Pierce. It meant retaining Sean Steichen, the head coach with a master's degree in mediocrity. It meant the coordinators stayed and free agent shopping was limited to aging veteran bargains (Keenan Allen, Akeem Davis-Gaither, Jerry Tillery). To Ballard, that hot start last fall was no fluke; it was a sign of things to come.
Standard NFL themes have played a role, including injuries to Pierce (leaving the team's top deep threat to be, phew, Laquon Treadwell) and Tyler Warren. But the players and coaching have not combined to make this team more than the sum of its parts.
Ballard spent big to bring in Charvarius Ward and Sauce Gardner at cornerback. They head up a defense whose 103.4 passer rating allowed in coverage is eighth-worst in the NFL (and has come against non-stars like Athan Kaliakmanis and late-stage Aaron Rodgers). They've only got 10 sacks in six games, and DeForest Buckner is responsible for 40 percent of them.
Jonathan Taylor keeps chugging along, but has been largely average as a runner (-13 rushing yards over expected (RYOE) in six games) while stuck in an offense that gets more and more predictable each week. After reviving his career by connecting on downfield throws in 2025, Jones' deep rate is down and his average throw distance is roughly a yard shorter than it was last year. On Sunday he reversed course, throwing 18 of his 42 attempts more than 10 yards downfield. He completed only four for 94 yards, cantilevered by a pair of interceptions. His passer rating on such throws? 9.0.
INT by Flott‼️
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) October 18, 2026
📺: @NFLonFOXpic.twitter.com/XuoBtoPyIe
It's not just deja vu for Colts fans. The players feel it too. Buckner was one of the franchise's prized acquisitions under Ballard in 2020, traded from San Francisco at the high cost of a first round pick. He's been a two-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro in Indianapolis. He also hasn't been to the playoffs since his first season with the franchise, and has never won a postseason game in blue and white. He's about as consummate a professional as you'll find, and even he is nearing a breaking point.
#Colts DT DeForest Buckner’s postgame presser.
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) October 18, 2026
“I’m sick and tired of the same song and dance every year.” pic.twitter.com/0lwXhKDpVS
But Buckner isn't quite right. It may be the same dance, but the beat has changed. The inexplicable losses are coming sooner. The illusion of contention isn't there. These Colts look straight-up bad rather than mediocre-to-good. Their wins are over a disheveled Houston Texans team that started the season 0-4 and a Washington Commanders team with Kaliakmanis at quarterback and a bottom-10 defense. They found a way to lose while more than doubling up Tennessee's total yardage and holding the Titans to only three third down conversions.
Indianapolis hoped the center would hold. It bet big on a small sample size of success, opting to run things back in 2026 with the same cast of characters even after the wheels came off to wrap up 2025. Ballard and company eschewed a big swing in the offseason, resting on the laurels that brought the team to 7-1 and then 8-9. By avoiding big swings, the longtime general manager laid a massive bet on complacency.
It hasn't paid off. It doesn't look like it will. Only seven players currently under contract for 2027 have any guaranteed money left on their deals. There's room for wholesale change here. It starts with sweeping out Ballard and Steichen, then giving their replacements a fresh slate, barring a turnaround that looks less likely with each passing week.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Colts should probably finally fire everyone if Week 6 is any indication