5. Zooming out on a 3-1 start and a narrow loss to a Super Bowl contender.

This perspective isn’t necessarily easy to find in the moments after a stinging, gutting loss like the Colts had on Sunday. But reflecting on how Week 4 went down – and how the Colts’ first quarter of the 2025 season went – a few things come to mind.

First: The Colts were missing not just three starters, but three good-or-better starters in right guard Matt Goncalves (toe), cornerback Kenny Moore II (Achilles) and wide receiver Alec Pierce (concussion). The Los Angeles Rams had four players listed as questionable, but all played on Sunday, with three of them being starters (wide receiver Davante Adams, tackle Rob Havenstein and tight end Tyler Higbee). The Colts were, handily, dealing with more injuries in Week 4 than the Rams.

Second: As stated above, teams that commit 11+ penalties and turn the ball over three or more times have a winning percentage of .171 in the last decade. The Colts hit those not-to-be-celebrated marks against a team widely considered to be among the best in the NFL.

Third: The Colts showed resiliency a few times in this game. Jones didn’t crumble after throwing his first interception of the season, and again, the Colts’ defense didn’t capitulate after Mitchell’s fumble. Los Angeles had several chances to put the Colts away; instead, the Colts, on the road against a top-tier opponent, held a lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Fourth: The Rams’ superstars showed up in big ways. Stafford threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns; Nacua had 13 catches for 170 yards; edge rusher Jared Verse generated six pressures and had a strip-sack. But despite those standout performances, at no points on Sunday did the Colts look overmatched.

A loss is a loss; come early January, the circumstances of the Colts’ Week 4 defeat won’t matter. But the Colts can feel confident in the team they’ve put together through four weeks – they, indeed, stacked up relatively well against the Rams.

The next challenge is showing week-to-week resiliency, especially with the opportunity ahead for this team. Three of the Colts’ next four games are at home (Week 5 vs. Raiders, Week 6 vs. Cardinals, Week 8 vs. Titans); the combined record of the Colts’ three home opponents is 3-9. In Week 7, the Colts go back to Los Angeles to face the 3-1 Chargers; Jim Harbaugh’s side, though, just lost in Week 4 to the previously-winless New York Giants and – maybe just as importantly – lost starting left tackle Joe Alt to a high ankle sprain.

None of those records or injuries will matter, though, if the Colts don’t clean up their own mistakes. But the opportunity is there for the Colts to go from being viewed, at least nationally, as a pleasant early-season surprise into being seen as a legitimate playoff contender.

We’ll learn a lot about the Colts by the end of October – if we haven’t learned a lot about this team already.