While the Colts, by virtue of an it's-still-too-early tiebreaker, are no longer in first place in the AFC South after losing to the Houston Texans on Sunday, this team is not hitting the panic button.
The metaphorical panic button implies changing who you are as a team in an act of desperation. That's not where the Colts are.
But in the home locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday – one which, for the first time in 2025, was muted after a loss – there was an acknowledgement that this team collectively has to turn things around, and turn things around fast.
"We've got to get back on track this week against Jacksonville, get it cleaned up tomorrow and take ownership and everything – myself, everybody included," head coach Shane Steichen said. "It's not about one person. We've got to get it right."
The Colts' 20-16 loss to the Texans dropped them to 8-4; about four hours south down I-65, the Jacksonville Jaguars thumped the Tennessee Titans to improve to 8-4. Because the Colts and the Jaguars have not played (yet), the Jaguars' 5-2 AFC record vaulted them over the Colts, who are 6-3 against AFC opponents.
That, of course, will change a week from Sunday, when the Colts face the Jaguars at EverBank Stadium in the first of two December meetings between the two teams.
"I think coming in tomorrow, I definitely expect a high sense of urgency and guys being ready, eager to correct what we need to correct and improve," quarterback Daniel Jones said. "I don't think anyone is – no one's losing confidence or certainly no one is gonna get too, too wound up about it, but we know we have to improve and make progress. So I expect guys to be ready to go and we've got to have a good week. We've got to make sure we clean some stuff up."
The Colts' focus this week will not be on a handful of controversial officiating decisions, but on the plays in all three phases this team didn't make against the Texans – plays that amounted to a four-point divisional defeat at home. If the Colts expect to emerge with a road win against the Jaguars – something they haven't done since 2014, the last time they won the AFC South – they'll need to execute in the key moments they did not on Sunday.
"At this point, this is where we're going to figure out the type of guys we got in this locker room, the type of team we want to be this season," linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "So just gotta get back, lock in and focus and be better."
The Colts, entering December, still control their destiny in the AFC South. Two wins over Jacksonville and a win over Houston would, no matter what, be enough for the Colts to clear the Jaguars in the divisional standings; an additional win over either the Seattle Seahawks or San Francisco 49ers would eliminate any convoluted tiebreakers with the Texans that could happen if Houston were to win all their games except for Week 18 against the Colts.
That's, of course, easier said than done. And while the Colts are 1-3 in their last four games, the Texans have won five of their last seven games and the Jaguars are winners of four of their last five. Unless the Colts can turn the tide, they'll lose their chance to control their own destiny.
"You gotta have a ton of urgency in division games," Steichen said. "And so now we're sitting at 2-1 in the division with another division opponent on the road that we gotta get ready for."
