AP Photo/AJ Mast
A new season is nearly upon us, and that means a new starting quarterback is leading the Indianapolis Colts.
Indianapolis appeared to have a playoff berth secured when it entered Week 17 with a 9-6 record last year. Then successive defeats to the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars knocked the Colts out of the postseason field.
That loss to the Jaguars might have single-handedly sealed Carson Wentz’s fate as the team traded him to the Washington Commanders in the offseason. Matt Ryan arrived as Wentz’s replacement, giving Indianapolis an immediate upgrade.
Granted, the acquisition also continued what has been a revolving door at quarterback for the organization since Andrew Luck’s unexpected retirement.
But trading for Ryan, who turns 37 shortly, was an obvious sign of the Colts’ ambitions. Getting to the playoffs is the minimum in terms of success, and anything less than a trip to the Super Bowl might be deemed a disappointment.
2022 Indianapolis Colts Schedule
Full schedule information available on the team’s official website
Analysis
The Colts and the rest of the AFC South picked the wrong year to draw the AFC West for their schedule. Based on how the offseason has unfolded, the AFC West might be the toughest division in the NFL now.
The Kansas City Chiefs might have taken the biggest step backward by trading Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins, but they’re still the Chiefs. As long as Patrick Mahomes stays healthy, how bad can Kansas City be?
Then you get to the other three teams, all of whom made at least one big addition. The Denver Broncos traded for Russell Wilson. The Las Vegas Raiders got Davante Adams and Chandler Jones. The Los Angeles Chargers beefed up their defense with J.C. Jackson and Khalil Mack.
Navigating through the AFC West and a .500 mark over the four games might be a reasonable target.
After making the playoffs, neither the Dallas Cowboys nor New England Patriots look much worse heading into 2022. Road trips to AT&T Stadium and Gillette Stadium won’t be easy.
Likewise, the Minnesota Vikings will be more formidable if a new vision from head coach Kevin O’Connell means the franchise is able to equal the sum of its parts.
The general state of the AFC South works to the Colts’ benefit. The Houston Texans are rebuilding, while the Jacksonville Jaguars probably need more than one offseason to totally undo all of the damage from the Urban Meyer era.
Outside of its divisional games, this will be a difficult slate for Indianapolis.
Pivotal Matchups
The Colts haven’t won a division title since 2014, while the Tennessee Titans are the two-time reigning AFC South champions. Until somebody knocks them off their perch, the division runs through Nashville.
Indianapolis lost both of its meetings against Tennessee in 2021. If that happens again, the wild card might be the team’s path into the playoffs.
Should that prove to be the case, those games against the AFC West will carry an added importance since two or even three teams could represent the division in the AFC postseason field. How the Colts perform against the Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders could be a decisive factor in who moves on to Wild Card Weekend.
In the event Indianapolis catapults itself to the AFC South title, those results could instead determine which team claims the top seed and automatically qualifies for the divisional round.
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