The Indianapolis Colts’ defense has failed time and time again this season against bottom tier offenses.

The Indianapolis Colts just suffered one of the more embarrassing losses of the past decade, falling 45-33 to a New York Giants team that released their starting quarterback halfway through the season.

The Giants were a completely helpless team coming into Sunday, mustering up a grand total of 32 points in the three games prior to the Week 17 matchup. Those lackluster offensive performances didn’t stop journeyman quarterback Drew Lock from looking like 2004 Peyton Manning on Sunday, though.

Lock, a quarterback with just one touchdown pass and four interceptions entering yesterday’s game, put up a near-perfect passer rating against the Colts‘ overwhelmed defense. He tossed four touchdowns to just six incompletions while also rushing for the put-away score late in the fourth quarter.

The Colts’ defense was simply helpless to stop the superstar wide receiver trio of Malik Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson, and Darius Slayton from slicing and dicing their way to season-best performances. Sarcasm aside for a moment, it was like watching someone play Madden 25 on rookie mode. Everything came easy for the Giants’ offense.

The truly sad part for fans is that this type of game isn’t the first of this nature in 2024. This performance against the Giants may be the cherry on top, but the Colts’ defense has consistently played down to their opponents this season.

In seven games against teams averaging fewer than 20.0 points per game, the Colts have allowed an average of 28 points per game. The New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans both came one point shy of their season-high mark in their match-ups with the Colts, while the Giants and the Jacksonville Jaguars set their highest scoring mark in years against this defense.

Essentially, the matchups that look like get-right games for the Colts’ defense end up being get-right games for inept offenses that want to find any semblance of rhythm.