The Colts were gifted 2 fresh sets of downs by horrendous Steelers penalties, and still managed to screw it all up

In their hopeful battle back to .500 against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night, it’s fair to say that Matt Ryan and the Indianapolis Colts ran into more than a few obstacles. (Some that were self-inflicted and historic.) Though, what happened in a bonkers late third-quarter sequence in the red zone might take the cake for getting in one’s own way.

While down 16-10, the Colts drove to the low red zone, but their drive stalled. They were forced to settle for a Chase McLaughlin 32-yard field goal. That is until an offsides penalty on Cameron Sutton gave Indianapolis an automatic first and a fresh set of downs:

Oof, a brutal play for Pittsburgh but a very lucky break for the Colts. Surely, they’d maximize it, no? Unfortunately, Indy still couldn’t do anything offensively from goal to go. But this time, a Minkah Fitzpatrick defensive pass interference on third down gave Indy another fresh set of downs.

Surely, from the one-yard line, the Colts would take advantage this time. Right? Right??? Oh, goodness. No, no. You underestimate the capabilities of an incompetent offense being gifted every opportunity and still blowing it.

Matt Ryan and Jonathan Taylor — your table is ready.

I want to make clear that I think the fumble is much more on Taylor. For being one of the NFL’s premier running backs, he seems to do a poor job of actually securing the ball once he gets the carry in his arms.

That said, how on earth did Ryan not recover this fumble? He had it in his arms! He could’ve avoided complete disaster for the Colts in a tight game!

Alas.

Wild, inexplicable sequences in the clutch like this clearly illustrate to me why the Colts are multiple games below .500. And after losing 24-17 to Pittsburgh, you have to think Indianapolis will be kicking themselves for a little while over what happened on this wild possession.

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