With the Texans‘ 20-16 win over the Chargers on Saturday night to improve to 11-5, Houston clinched a spot in the playoffs, eliminating the 8-7 Colts in the process.
Indianapolis becomes just the sixth team in NFL history to start a season 8-2 and miss the playoffs and the first to do so since the 1995 Raiders.
That’s not the kind of history any team hopes to make, and it underscores what a disaster the second half of the season has been for Indianapolis. They began the season as the NFL’s best story, with Daniel Jones getting a redemption arc with a fresh start in Indy, leading an offense that was the best in the league.
With the playoffs firmly in their sights and an AFC lacking a dominant force, the Colts understandably took a swing at the trade deadline, shipping two first round picks to the Jets for star corner Sauce Gardner. However, things went off the rails for Indianapolis shortly after the trade deadline, leaving the franchise and its fans worried about its immediate future.
Jones was hobbled with a fractured fibula, Gardner got injured early in his third game in Indy and Jones eventually tore his Achilles to end his season. As injuries have piled up, the Colts have lost their last five games, the last two coming with 44-year-old Philip Rivers playing quarterback after he signed with the teams after being retired for nearly five years.
It has been the ultimate disaster scenario for Indy. Losing Jones to a catastrophic injury leads to questions about whether he’ll be the short or long-term answer at quarterback. However, with the Jets owning their 2026 (and 2027) first-round pick from the Gardner trade, they won’t even have the option of taking a swing in April’s NFL Draft.
It’s an unfortunate situation, especially because we so rarely see teams truly try to capitalize on a surprising seasons. The Colts took a huge swing and struck out, and now will serve as a cautionary tale for future front offices wondering if it’s worth doing the same.
It being the Texans that eliminated them officially only adds salt to the wound in Indy. Not only are the Texans division rivals, but Houston makes a bit of history themselves by becoming just the seventh team to make the postseason after an 0-3 start. The last team to do it? The 2018 Texans.
The Colts will play a key role in exactly where Houston ends up in the AFC seeding. The Colts finish the season against the Jaguars in Week 17 and the Texans in Week 18, with Houston needing a win over Indy next week and a Jacksonville loss against either the Colts or Titans in the final two weeks to win the AFC South.