The Colts regrouped on Wednesday with a focus on one thing, and one thing only: The 5-0 Minnesota Vikings.
This isn't a team distracted by the dismissal of general manager Chris Ballard or any trade rumors that began swirling Monday morning. From the outside, it's remarkable how the vibe in an NFL building can shift as soon as prep begins for an upcoming game. From the inside, it's business as usual, no matter the circumstances.
"I know how it works, but I mean, it's just distractions right now," defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. "I mean, I've got a job to do and my job is to prepare my best this week to help my team and to beat the Vikings."
The Colts will need a collective, unwavering focus to end their two-game losing streak and hand the Vikings their first loss of the season on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. That especially applies to the Colts' offense, which will have to be locked in to handle a borderline-absurd amount of pressure in Week 7.
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has sent a blitz on 77.8 percent of Minnesota's defensive plays, easily the highest rate in the NFL.
That turned-up-to-10 aggression is fueled by an experienced back end of Minnesota's defense, highlighted by six-time Pro Bowl safety Harrison Smith.
"They're really connected on the back end," head coach Shane Steichen said. "I think Harrison Smith, I've got so much respect for him. He's the point guard on the back end for them. He gets it all wired up – in and out of checks, getting them in the right looks off formations, different motions. You see it all over the tape. They're just doing it at a high level."
For the Colts, handling Flores' blitz will be a major factor in determining their offensive success on Sunday. Offensively, Steichen's group is ninth in EPA per play against the blitz, largely owing to none of quarterback Daniel Jones' six interceptions coming against blitzes. Jones, though, is averaging 5.5 yards per pass and has been pressured on 48.7 percent of his dropbacks against the blitz this season; the Colts have the second lowest explosive passing rate against the blitz (6.6 percent), ahead of only the Denver Broncos.
"It doesn't fall on one guy," Steichen said. "There's some un-scouted looks. There's some other things. You've got to win one-on-one matchups, get the ball of your hand. And so, we look at those every week to get those things fixed and improved on."
The point here being: Finding solutions to the problems presented by Flores' blitzes requires focus on the right things, not on the organizational change that happened Monday or chatter from outside the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center. The Vikings enter Week 7 allowing just 12.8 points per game, easily the lowest rate in the league.
"Looking at their defense, they're the best in the business right now," Steichen said.
This is where the veteran leadership of guys like Buckner and running back Jonathan Taylor and guard Quenton Nelson will come into play. The weekly process those veterans have doesn't change amid a two-game skid and a general manager being let go. It would be the same – and was the same last year – if the Colts were on a winning streak.
And that's important here, because the last line of Colts Owner & CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon's statement Monday announcing her decision on Ballard made things clear: winning remains the expectation for the 2026 Colts.
"I think it would be a discredit and a disservice to my teammates and this whole organization to think about what could, what should, what may be," Taylor said. "It's what's happening right now. ... It's not going to get any easier. No one's going to feel sorry for us. Oh, our general manager is gone. No one's going to feel sorry for us. They're going to say, 'Oh, let's try to kick them when (they're) down.' So we got to pull ourselves up, and we got to go fight."
