The year 2025 has been a good one for sports in the state of Indiana. The Purdue Men’s Basketball team started off this successful year with an appearance in the NCAA March Madness tournament’s Elite Eight. The Indiana Pacers then competed in a highly competitive NBA Finals this summer, where they finished with many strong victories and made the state of Indiana very proud. More recently, the football team at Indiana University just became the outright Big Ten Title Champions by defeating Ohio State on Saturday, and is the Number 1-ranked team in the country going into the College Football Playoffs. The Indianapolis Colts were on par to keep this Indiana sporting victory train rolling as they had a phenomenal start to their season with a 3-0 record and ranking among the top in the country. However, this has all taken a drastic turn as the Colts have now lost three straight and their star quarterback along with them.
The struggles, in my opinion, officially began in the loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers back on November 2. The Colts had a 7-1 record heading into this game and truly looked like one of the best squads in the league. However, this game posed many challenges for Indy. Quarterback, Daniel Jones, who had been looking exceptionally good up to this point in the season, struggled immensely as he threw three interceptions (ESPN, 2025). The defensive squad also performed less than ideally as they allowed the Steelers to score 27 points, seventeen of those points coming solely from the second quarter (ESPN, 2025). Also during this contest, defensive linemen and one of the team’s best, DeForest Buckner, suffered a neck injury and has still not yet returned to play.
The following week, the Colts found themselves victorious over the Atlanta Falcons and acquired the league’s best cornerback, Sauce Gardner, from the New York Jets. Things seemed to be looking up for the team until they dropped their next three games. The first of these three consecutive losses came in a close overtime matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. Also, to make this loss a little bit worse, Daniel Jones suffered a fracture to his left fibula during this game. Jones, however, still competed in the following game against the Houston Texans. Jones was able to do this with the help of a special brace crafted by his fellow teammates at Duke University (NFL). According to NFL.com’s Nick Shook, Jones said, “ I’m lucky to have smart friends who are really close friends. It’s pretty low profile and fits my leg pretty well.” This unique brace allowed him to compete; however, the Colts still dropped their matchup against the Texans, which became their first and only loss at home up to this point in the season.
Coming off of these rather strugglesome weeks, the squad was in desperate need of a victory. They found themselves matched up against the division leaders, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Colts were heading into Jacksonville and knew that this would be a tough competition. It proved to be a lot tougher than expected. Late in the first quarter, Daniel Jones suffered a non-contact injury and did not return to the game. It was later confirmed that Jones tore his Achilles tendon and would not be returning to football this season (Gordon, 2025). This was a less-than-ideal end to his season, and the hearts of many football fans go out to Jones. Daniel expressed his gratitude by stating, “Thank you to my teammates, coaches, the Colts organization, and all the fans for the overwhelming support. Tough way to end this season, but it has been an honor to wear the horseshoe and play for Colts fans. I’ll miss lining up with my guys, but I’ll be riding with them every step of the way. Go Colts!”
With the exit of Daniel Jones, the Colts turned to rookie quarterback, Riley Leonard, to finish out the game. The Jaguars, however, were just too much to handle and defeated Indianapolis by a final score of 36-19. On top of it all, Leonard suffered a knee injury in this game as well (Foster, 2025).
The Colts are now in a difficult position as they are trying to finish the season without their starting quarterback. The team recently made a move by signing 44-year-old former quarterback Philip Rivers, who has come out of retirement to help the Colts potentially reach the playoffs. According to NYtimes.com’s Jeff Howe, an anonymous NFL executive stated, “Fun story, but I think it’s going to be a disaster.” Fans will see how this quarterback fiasco plays out for the Colts as they head to Seattle to take on the Seahawks this Sunday in a must-win matchup. With the starting position still up in the air, the Colts could potentially be in deep trouble.
From the sidelines to the headlines, this is Lauren, signing out.
