DENVER – Jonathan Taylor accelerated toward the end zone, something he's done plenty of times in his football career, and then did something he's never done before.

Just milliseconds before he crossed the goal line for what would've been a touchdown to put the Colts up, 20-7, early in the second half of Sunday's Week 15 game against the Denver Broncos, Taylor dropped the ball.

As the Colts celebrated what felt like a defining moment in their playoff push, and as kicker Matt Gay jogged on to the field for a PAT, a replay flashed across the video board at Empower Field at Mile High. Fans and Broncos players alike quickly and jubilantly reacted to the slow-motion video of Taylor relinquishing control of the ball before crossing into the end zone. Taylor didn't realize something was amiss until the officiating crew initiated a replay.

And that replay showed Taylor not only didn't cross the goal line with the ball, but the fumble went out of the end zone. Instead of a touchdown and a 13-point lead, the Broncos got the ball on their own 20-yard line, still down by just six points.

"You just can't do it," Taylor said. "That just can't happen."

Taylor was not consciously aware he was dropping the ball – "otherwise you wouldn't do it," he said – and the running back left no room for excuses when asked about the fumble after the game.

"You go over those scenarios, but it just can't happen no matter the game, no matter the scenario,"
Taylor said. "You could be up by 50, down by 50, playoff game, first game of the season — that should never happen."

Added Taylor: "That'll never happen again. That never happened to me before and it'll never happen again."

Taylor immediately apologized for his gaffe to head coach Shane Steichen and teammates on the Colts' sideline. The Colts, though, did not lose trust in Taylor – he got a handoff on the Colts' first offensive play after the fumble.

"It was a mistake," Steichen said. "Obviously, it hurt us but he's one of our leaders and sometimes that happens in football. He's our guy and that's where it's at."

The Broncos, though, did not wrestle momentum away from the Colts after Taylor's fumble. The Colts' defense forced a punt on the ensuing possession, then safety Nick Cross jumped a Bo Nix pass for the defense's third interception of the game.

After Cross picked off Nix, though, quarterback Anthony Richardson completed a pass to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr on the first play of Colts' drive. Broncos safety P.J. Locke, though, knocked the ball out of Pittman's hands, with defensive tackle D.J. Jones recovering the loose ball. Denver turned that turnover into a field goal, cutting the score to 13-10 late in the third quarter.

"(Locke) just made a great play," Pittman said. "I turned, he put his helmet right on the football and he just made a great play. I tried to get on it but they pursued it. I just gotta clench a bit harder and expect that somebody is gonna be there."

Denver took the lead early in the fourth quarter behind a 60-yard Marvin Mims Jr. punt return and a 15-yard Nix touchdown to tight end Nate Adkins. And that's when disaster struck again for the Colts' offense.

The Colts had worked on a trick play in practice leading up to Sunday, where Richardson threw a quick pass to wide receiver Adonai Mitchell out wide. Mitchell, then, would throw back toward Richardson, hoping to take advantage of an aggressive Broncos defense crashing toward the rookie wide receiver. The goal was to spring Richardson for a chunk gain, and with the Colts' on the Broncos' 40-yard line, Steichen called for the play.

You almost certainly know what happened next.

"It was there," Mitchell said, "pretty much until 15 (Broncos defensive end Nik Bonitto) turned into Ed Reed and came through out of nowhere.

"It was a great play by him. We just gotta execute it better."

Bonitto picked off MItchell's lateral and sprinted 50 yards for a touchdown, putting Denver up, 24-13, with about 12 and a half minutes left in the game.

"That was a play we were looking to get called, and that was the first drive (in the second half) kinda that we started getting something going," Steichen said. "And then we got that ball on that play, and credit to 15, he made a hell of a play and that's what happened.

"... We repped that play all week and it was great. It looked great all week and we've had it up, and it was good in practice. (Mitchell) threw it great, obviously he's thrown double passes before that he's had success with, and that one didn't work out."

The Colts were unable to mount a comeback from there, with consecutive drives ending in a turnover on downs and an interception before Denver took a 31-13 lead after cornerback Patrick Surtain II picked off Richardson. That would be the final score; the Colts were left to return to Indianapolis wondering what might've been not just for Sunday's game, but for their playoff hopes, had these disastrous plays not happened.

"It hurts, especially when you're getting into a flow during the game and you just start shooting yourself in the foot," Taylor said. "That hurts the most. Sometimes someone gives you their best and your best wasn't good enough, but when you hurt yourself like that, that one hurts. That one hurts."