INDIANAPOLIS – No matter how the question was phrased, Andrew Luck was reverting back to his own play in assessing Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Saints.

It was uncharacteristic play from Luck, stuff that we've hardly seen through the first three years and change of his career.

-Asked about his physical well-being after Sunday's loss, Luck said he feels fine before offering: "I'm not happy with how I played or the result of the game."

-When probed about the frustration level after a 3-4 start, Luck offered: "I'd say I'm frustrated up here. As a unit, we're frustrated and I'm frustrated with myself."

-Luck was asked to compare last year's No. 1 passing attack to this year's version. While Luck almost never weighs things year-to-year, he did say: "I've got to play better."

-Finally, when inquired about what the Colts' identity is, Luck said: "I think I can clean up my mistakes."

For the first time in his historical NFL start, Luck's post-game media session left the Colts quarterback puzzled as to why the Colts offense has not played anywhere near their potential this season.

"Turnovers, missing some throws, penalties aren't helping," Luck gave as some of the reasons.

On Sunday, Luck started 0-for-5 with an interception. According to the FOX broadcast, Luck's 0-for-5 start was the first time he failed to complete a pass in his first five passes to start a game.

The Colts didn't have their first first-down on Sunday until the 13:05 mark of the second quarter.

Luck's first completion didn't occur until the clock read 9:14 left in the first half.

The first half stat line for Luck was: 9-of-19 for 79 yards and two ("egregious") interceptions (19.3 rating).

"They did a nice job mixing up coverages, mixing up looks, mixing up blitzes, mixing up looks," Luck said of the Saints defense.

"We couldn't get in a rhythm, couldn't establish a rhythm until the second half there. They did a nice job of stymying us that first half."

After putting up Pro Bowl numbers in each of his first three seasons, Luck has struggled in 2015 to find a consistent rhythm.

While the blame is clearly not just on the franchise shoulders of Luck, the Colts need their quarterback to play better.

"Obviously it's not where he wants to be. It's not where we want him to be," Chuck Pagano said of Luck's level of play so far in 2015.

"It's not something that we're going to bury our head in the sand and say, 'Hey everything is okay.' It's just like everything else, we're going to look at that, we're going to look at everything. We all know what he's capable of and the player that he is and all that stuff, but again we're going to go back in there, we're going to look at him, we got to get it fixed."

Luck and the Colts will now head into the spotlight of Monday Night Football this week with questions at their most prized position.

In the second half on Sunday, the Colts saw the Luck they are used to watching: 14-of-25 for 254 yards and three touchdowns.

With a sub-.500 record at the latest point in a season they've been in the Luck era, the quarterback believes things will turn around.

"Absolutely we can climb out of it," Luck said.

"We're 3-4. That's where we are. There's not much story beyond that. We're 3-4. We've got a darn good football team. We'll play better, and we'll fix what needs to get fixed."