Colts coach Chuck Pagano was short and to the point in describing last night’s 45-10 loss to the Steelers.
“They kicked our ass. Period,” Pagano said.
Yes, they did. The Steelers had 522 yards to the Colts’ 240. The Steelers had 24 first down to the Colts’ 11. The Steelers averaged 7.4 yards a play to the Colts’ 4.2. This was a butt-kicking.
“We couldn’t get anything going offensively,” Pagano said. “No big plays on defense. No run game or pass game. We gave up a punt return at the end. We got beat thoroughly in all three phases. We don’t have a lot of time to sit and dwell on this. It stinks but we have to move on.”
The good news for Pagano is that his team is still in first place in the AFC South, even at 6-6. The bad news is that losses like last night’s only strengthen the widespread belief that this will be Pagano’s final season in Indianapolis. A coach whose team gets its butt kicked like that is a coach on the hot seat.