The high expectations that the Colts carried into the 2022 season were well on their way to becoming distant memories before Sunday’s game in New England and the offensive performance in the 26-3 loss made it all but impossible to remember that people once believed this season would turn out well for the AFC South team.
They gained 121 yards and failed to convert a single third down as they fell to 3-5-1 on the season. The offensive meltdown came after the team benched quarterback Matt Ryan and fired offensive coordinator Marcus Brady over the last two weeks and that left nowhere but the mirror for head coach Frank Reich to point fingers after the game.
“Each person has to go back starting with me,” Reich said, via the team’s website. “That’s what I said in the locker room. I mean, the offensive performance — that’s why I was brought here. That’s my responsibility. We got the players. We got players that are plenty good enough. I have to do a better job. It starts with me on offense. I have to do a better job getting the guys ready to play, putting guys in good positions to win and having answers when we face problems. . . . We got to do more on offense. That starts with me. We’ve made the moves that we made. Everybody’s responsible, everybody has their role to play, but I’m the leader of the offense, and that’s my responsibility.”
Reich said that he believes “answers are out there” for what’s wrong with the Colts and he’ll need to find them quickly if he’s going to avoid the same change of fortunes that Ryan and Brady have experienced this season.