Lions' upcoming opponent hanging around AFC playoff picture despite making a mess of QB situation

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Allen Park — The Lions will wrap up their every-four-year tour of the AFC South this Sunday with a trip to Indianapolis. The last time the teams squared off at Lucas Oil Stadium was 2016. Thankfully, the scouting combine is held in the city annually or I’d suffer from sinus-clearing shrimp cocktail withdrawal.

Between these battles in Indy, the Lions hosted the Colts in 2020. Like most games from that dismal era, it didn’t go well for the hometown team. A nearly 40-year-old Philip Rivers — in what turned out to be his retirement tour — had one of the best performances of his final season, completing 23-of-33 for 262 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-21 thumping.

But unlike the other two teams from the AFC South division the Detroit hadn’t seen in four years, Houston and Tennessee, there’s been a surprising amount of roster continuity in Indianapolis.

To be fair, some of the players are on injured reserve, but this week’s foe has more than a dozen guys from that 2020 meeting still on the payroll, including five starting offensive and defensive linemen, running back Jonathan Taylor, wide receiver Michael Pittman and defensive backs Julian Blackmon and Kenny Moore.

That kind of stability is unusual, particularly after undergoing a coaching change, which the Colts did between the 2022 and 2023 seasons. They axed Frank Reich in the middle of the '22 campaign, hiring former Chargers and Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen the following offseason.

Additionally, since there might not be another spot to shoehorn in this tidbit, Steichen’s offensive coordinator is former Lions OC Jim Bob Cooter. This felt like something you needed to know.

So if so much is the same, what’s new with the Colts?

Well, if we’re only willing to go back to last season, the answer is not much. There might not be a team that did less in free agency, although the decision to swap Gardner Minshew for Joe Flacco as the backup quarterback has led to the most interesting storyline out of Indianapolis this season.

Here’s a brief recap before getting into it. The Colts had a pretty great run at QB between Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, but when the latter abruptly retired ahead of the 2019 season, the team had to patchwork the position for a few years with Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan, who they similarly ushered into retirement after just one season.

Finally bad enough to take a swing at a franchise QB in the draft, the Colts used the No. 4 pick in 2023 on ultra-athletic, but raw dual-threat Anthony Richardson.

The upside with Richardson was and remains enormous, with appropriate Cam Newton comparisons based on their build and physical tools. But after an injury-shortened rookie year, and some glaring struggles to start his second year, the Colts pulled the plug on Richardson and turned the keys over to Flacco.

On one hand, it was a fitting continuation of the Rivers and Ryan arc of past-expiration passers. However, the execution of the change was clunky, at best, and ignited a national conversation about organizations failing young quarterbacks. It didn't help that the Colts initially doubled down on their decision, before reversing course after two games and reinserting Richardson back into the starting lineup last week.

To the youngster's credit, it was one of the best performances of his very brief career. He completed 20-of-30 for 272 yards, a touchdown and zero interceptions in a win over the Jets.

Richardson’s arsenal is made up of the talented Taylor in the backfield, Pittman, a big-bodied option who splits his time outside and the slot, Alec Pierce, one of the game’s most underrated vertical threats, and Josh Downs, a shifty and efficient slot receiver who can rack up receptions in a hurry.

They might rank in the lower half of the league in yards and points, but when Taylor gets going and Richardson minimizes the miscues, the unit is loaded with explosive potential. Driving the length of the field for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns against a good Jets defense last week was impressive.

Defensively, the Colts are less interesting. The team's only veteran addition of note this offseason was nose tackle Raekwon Davis. He's averaging fewer than 20 defensive snaps over the past month. In the draft, the team used its first-round pick on edge rusher Laiatu Latu, who has been OK, tallying 26 pressures and 3.0 sacks in his first 11 games.

Overall, the unit gives up a lot of yardage. They’re surrendering 374.5 yards per game, which ranks 28th. That’s troubling with a Lions team that just set its franchise's single-game yardage mark last weekend.

To the Colts’ credit, they limit the damage on the scoreboard. Their 22.7 average points against checks in closer to the middle of the pack. That’s fueled by an opportunistic group that’s generated 17 turnovers, including a league-leading nine fumble recoveries.