Maybe the most telling aspect of the Colts' Week 12 loss to the Detroit Lions won't show up in the box score.
Quarterback Anthony Richardson completed four of five passes for 78 yards – on plays that were called back for a penalty on the Colts.
"Penalties hurt us," head coach Shane Steichen said. "That starts with myself, we've got to get those cleaned up. ... That's on me. We can't have that. We've got to play clean football going forward."
Those four passes called back on flags weren't the only penalties assessed to the Colts on Sunday, but they negated completions of seven, 21, 21 and 30 yards, and the three drives on which these four penalties were called all ended in punts. Running back Jonathan Taylor's longest rush of the game – a 19-yard gain – was called back due to a holding penalty, too.
"It felt like there was a few of them that felt like every time we had a 20-yarder or a 30-yarder, something was called back," Steichen said.
The Colts in total ran 10 plays with at least 15 yards to the sticks, including three on third down (third and 19, third and 20, third and 15). Those are, of course, low-percentage snaps: Just 9 percent of third-and-15+ plays resulted in a first down in Weeks 1-11 of this season.
It would've been difficult for the Colts to overcome so many penalties – especially ones negating explosive plays – in any game. That the Colts were facing the top team in the NFC, and arguably the best team in football, on Sunday made those penalties too frequent and significant to overcome.
"That's already going to put you behind," Taylor said. "When you're not playing clean football against a team like that, you're already putting yourself behind the sticks. So that's something that you have to fix immediately."
The Colts also were unable to capitalize on two first half trips to the red zone, settling for short field goals when touchdowns could've set an early tone against the 10-1 Lions. The Colts elected to receive the opening kickoff after winning the coin toss and quickly marched downfield, leading to a second-and-2 at the Lions' four-yard line. From there, the Colts' next three plays were:
- Run to Taylor for no gain
- Richardson throwaway on an RPO, with left guard Quenton Nelson drawing an illegal man downfield flag
- Richardson incompletion intended for wide receiver Adonai Mitchell
After Detroit took a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter, the Colts again drove into Detroit's red zone. On second-and-10 from the Lions' 11-yard line, Richardson ripped a throw over the middle that went through the hands of tight end Drew Ogletree for an incompletion; Matt Gay knocked in a 29-yard field goal two plays later.
"You've got to take advantage of our opportunities when we've got them," Steichen said. "Obviously, this league comes down to inches, it comes down to yards, and you've got to take advantage of those opportunities that we have."
While the Lions' 24 points were tied for their third-lowest total of the season and their 5.4 yards per play average was their second-lowest in 2024, they converted nine of 15 third down tries and only put the ball in harm's way twice. The Colts weren't able to take advantage of either opportunity – defensive end Laiatu Latu's strip-sack of Goff was recovered by Detroit, and cornerback Sam Womack III wasn't able to haul in a near-interception on a third-and-six late in the second quarter.
"They schemed against us really well," Latu said. "They're getting the ball out super quick. It's tough to try to make every play consistently, but I felt like we gave our best out there."
The Colts are now 5-7 and will operate without much margin for error the rest of the season. They are not buried in the AFC playoff race by any stretch – they own a head-to-head tiebreaker with a 5-6 Miami Dolphins and still play the No. 7 seed Denver Broncos in Week 15. They're effectively three games back of the Houston Texans (7-5) with five to play, but the Texans' loss to the Tennessee Titans (3-8) on Sunday was a reminder that the division is not settled yet, too.
Still, if the Colts are going to make a late-season playoff push, they know that starts with cleaning up the penalties that sunk them against the Lions on Sunday.
"Whenever you're out there playing a good team like that, you can't beat yourself and try to beat the other team at the same time," Richardson said. "So the penalties definitely hurt us, but that's just going back to the drawing board and understanding the minor details and the discipline between each and every play and just going to make it work."
