Titans Win May Have Inadvertently Helped Colts

The Tennessee Titans handed the Indianapolis Colts their fourth loss of the season on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. 

The Titans beat the Colts 26-20 to secure their first win of the season. It was cause for celebration for the Titans, who are now 4-19 since last year. 

The game started off rough for the Titans. 

The offense was awful again in the first half. The Titans only moved the chains three times in the first half. It looked like we were going to see another blowout like in the Houston Texans game. 

Then, things changed in the second half with the Titans down 13-0. Jeffery Simmons got things started by forcing a fumble from Jonathan Taylor. 

The Colts didn't score a single point in the third quarter, and the Titans started to fight back with two field goals. The Titans tied the game at 13 with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Carnell Tate. 

The Titans then took their first lead of the game on a blocked punt that Femi Oladejo returned for a touchdown. 

The Colts tied it up at 20 on the next drive, but the Titans added two more field goals to extend their lead to six. The defense made two late fourth-quarter stops to secure the win. 

Indianapolis had a Hail Mary attempt that fell to the turf as time expired. 

On Monday, the Colts announced they had fired General Manager Chris Ballard, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. 

For Titans fans who don't keep up with the Colts, it's understandable that this may seem like it was based on how the game went. In reality, this has been coming for a long time. 

Ballard has been with the organization since 2017, when he first joined as the GM. Since then, the Colts have made the playoffs twice. 

Indianapolis went in 2018 and 2020. With the talent that was on some of those teams, the fact that they only went twice in his tenure is ridiculous. 

The Colts didn't go very far in the playoffs during Andrew Luck's best years under Ballard. Indianapolis reached the Divisional Round in 2018, Luck's final year with the franchise. 

Ballard struggled to find a suitable replacement after Luck retired. The Colts tried Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, and Gardner Minshew, but none of them really worked out. 

Ballard then selected Anthony Richardson in 2023, who is still with the team but has been a major disappointment. Then there have been players like Adonai Mitchell, who were with the team only briefly before being traded. 

Mitchell was part of the deal that sent Sauce Gardner to the Colts from the New York Jets. Gardner has not lived up to expectations with the Colts so far and is now dealing with a calf injury after Sunday's game. 

Bringing back Daniel Jones after he tore his Achilles can even be viewed as a risk. Jones has struggled this season after missing the second half of last year. After the Titans loss, Jones has 1,290 passing yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions. 

Jones is still on a two-year, $88 million contract that he hasn't lived up to so far. 

The Colts' lack of success isn't all tied to questionable draft picks, bad trades, or contracts. 

The franchise also went through three head coaches from 2017-2026. Chuck Pagano went 4-12 in Ballard's first year in charge and was fired. Pagano took the Colts to the AFC Championship Game in 2014. 

Then, the Colts hired Frank Reich. Reich went to the playoffs twice in five years. He went 4-12 in his final season in 2022 and was fired. Now, the Colts have former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen as head coach. 

Steichen has been with the franchise since 2023 and has failed to make the playoffs once. 

It seems the Colts were looking for a reason to let Ballard go, and the Titans gave them that reason with Sunday's loss. 

In a weird way, the Titans did the Colts a favor by beating them.