2020 NFL Week 4: Colts at Bears Second Half Open Thread — Colts lead 13-3

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FIRST HALF THOUGHTS

On the positive side, the Colts enter the half with a two score lead and will receive the ball to start the second half. Mo Alie-Cox continues to look like a weapon that defenses are struggling to slow down. With Trey Burton and Jack Doyle healthy, the Colts have a dynamic tight end room.

On the other hand, the ground game continues to underwhelm. The play-calling seems to suggest that the Colts aren’t confident they can run on the Bears porous run defense. It almost appears that the Colts interior offensive line is unable to get anything going, which begs the question: why?

All Pro left guard Quenton Nelson had a back injury on the team’s injury report heading into Week 1. At some point, you have to wonder if he’s dealing with an ongoing issue that isn’t getting enough time to fully heal. It’s difficult to imagine or explain why Reich would think his best option is to ask Philip Rivers to move the ball through the air with a depleted receiver room, a lack of continuity amongst his receiving options, one of the best offensive lines in the league, and a deep backfield.

It is also frustrating to watch Reich trot out Nyheim Hines in red zone and short yardage situations. Running Hines up the middle or handing him the ball at all in those situation will have, and always has had, a low success rate. Jordan Wilkins and Jonathan Taylor are the better options but Reich and Sirianni insist on putting Hines in bad situations.

This offense needs to get things figure out if the Colts hope to beat any of the AFC contenders. The defense is doing reasonably well but a first half groin injury for Darius Leonard may make things a little easier for Foles and the Bears offense in the second half.