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Everything was going so, so wrong for the Colts. The Colts were down 27-14 in the fourth quarter and, though they forced a Titans punt, the Colts were pinned at their own 2 yard line. Their offense hadn't done much at all in the first three quarters, and now backed up against their own goal line, they weren't going to do anything here, right?
But that's when Andrew Luck and the offense caught fire. They drove 98 yards for the score, then the defense picked off Marcus Mariota again, and then Andrew Luck hit Donte Moncrief for a touchdown to take the lead, 28-27. And then the Colts forced a Titans punt, and the Colts drove down the field for another touchdown, capped off by Frank Gore's second touchdown run of the day to put the Colts up 35-27. 21 points in the fourth quarter. The Titans drove and scored a touchdown, but the Colts stuffed the two-point conversion attempt from the 1-yard line. The onside kick went out of bounds, and just like that, the Colts notched their first win of the season.
Andrew Luck in the fourth quarter was tremendous. He completed 11 of 14 passes for 144 yards and two scores - one to Phillip Dorsett and one to Donte Moncrief. Luck has led a lot of fourth quarter comebacks, but this one was one of the more improbable ones. The Colts were playing terrible football and looked like they were sure to fall to 0-3 on the season. But then the Colts rallied, and they may have saved their season - and their coach's job.
It really was two completely different teams that we saw - one that looked bad in the first three quarters, and then one that looked great in the fourth quarter. We've seen it so often with the Colts, but it never ceases to amaze.
There were a lot of issues - a lot. The offensive line, despite all the changes, was even worse. The defense gave up a lot of plays in the passing game and got zero pass rush. Andrew Luck looked bad once again. The issues were there and glaring. But, as we've been saying all year, when Luck is bad, the team is bad. But when Luck is good? Well, then things like today's fourth quarter happen. It doesn't cover the issues that we already saw, but it does mean that the Colts are 1-2. They avoided an 0-3 start and got division play off on the right note, extending their win streak against the AFC South to 14 games.
It doesn't make all the issues suddenly go away, but man, it's refreshing to see the Colts' offense come to life for the first time this season. It's a lot better to work on issues after a win than after a loss. We've seen it before and we saw it again - just when we thought the Colts were defeated, they pulled out a stunning comeback.