INDIANAPOLIS – It is finally here.

The first weekend break the Colts have had since Labor Day arrives this week, after the trip to forget in London, a heartbreaker against Houston and the season's highest moment in Lambeau.

Anytime the bye arrives, teams welcome it with open arms.

But the Colts (4-5) do head into it trying to bottle up Sunday's performance and keep it for the final seven games of 2016.

"A bunch of the players were talking about wish we were still going, we want to be on the field, we want to be playing this week and all of that stuff," Chuck Pagano said earlier this week. "But at the same time, half the room that doesn't feel so good are saying, 'No, we need the time.'

"Again, you keep things in perspective. It was a great win but again, you can't take your foot off the gas. For us to not build on this, for us not to do the right thing and not stay in our iPads and go work out and do the things necessary over the next four or five days that need to be done and not take advantage of this then shame on us. That's on all of us. That's on us as a staff – that starts with me and all of our coaches and all of our players. We talked about that more than the good things that happened in that ball game because it will be all for naught. It really will. A great win like that, at that place, and it will be all for naught if we don't handle our business the right way. But I know our guys will."

Players know what Sunday could do for them.

Going into a bye week at 3-6?

Even Pagano admitted on Monday that he didn't know how he "would spin" being three games under .500 to his team.

It was a thought Pagano wanted no part of even thinking about a 3-6 reocrd following the Colts' upset victory over the Packers.

"I can't remember being that excited after a regular season win," left tackle Anthony Castonzo said. "We really needed that. And that's what this team can be. It's so exciting to see that.

"We know we have it here, in this locker room, to keep on doing that on a consistent basis."

The wins have to start being strung together, and the opportunity is there in the Colts' backyard.

Three of the team's first four games following the bye week are at Lucas Oil Stadium. The one road game in that span? A trip to the 3-6 Jets.

It's been a wild, wild ride through the first nine games of the 2016 season for Indianapolis.

But even through all the downs, Houston remains in striking distance at the top of the AFC South.

"We have given ourselves an opportunity now to keep moving forward," Pagano says. "We said (the Packers') game would be a defining moment for our team and for our season, but really how we handle this will also define this football team and where we go from here.

"It's going to be very, very important and I know our guys will do it because we have great veteran leadership in our locker room and we have great character guys that obviously love winning and want to do that right thing. It's going to be very, very important that everybody does the right thing while they get some time off."