But with five and a half minutes left, the Titans immediately took a shot at Gardner’s replacement, veteran Cam Taylor-Britt, who was flagged for a 36-yard pass interference penalty that moved the ball near midfield. Slye connected for a go-ahead field goal just before the two-minute warning.
The Colts’ offense, though, couldn’t overcome Jones being sacked on a third-and-10; later, Jones threw a pair of Hail Mary passes that fell incomplete.
And that’s how the Colts squandered a game they felt was very much winnable against a team that hadn’t won a game before Sunday.
“Every single person on the team needs to be hard critics of themselves and figure out what they can do better and learn from this tape,” defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. “Just take ownership of what we put on tape and move forward.”
Safety Cam Bynum said a loss like this one makes “us sick to our stomach,” but emphasized the Colts need to regroup quickly without letting this one sting for too long. Running back Jonathan Taylor echoed the sentiment of this team figuring out how to fix these issues quickly.
“It’s on us. No one’s coming to save us,” Taylor said. “You got to look yourself in the mirror and figure out what type of team that you want to be. And if you want to be a really good team, you can’t lose divisional games at home.”
After Sunday’s game, Steichen, Jones and Buckner all admitted they heard the boos that came from the stands at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday. And each of them said they understood why fans expressed their displeasure.
“They’re upset,” Buckner said. “We lost to the Tennessee Titans, who were 0-5, now they’re 1-5.”
“We didn’t play well enough today,” Jones said. “We’ve got to play better and give them something to cheer about.”
“We gotta give them something to cheer about,” Steichen said. “I don’t blame them for booing one freaking bit.”