The Indianapolis Colts were able to outlast the Chicago Bears this past Sunday to secure their first win of the season, improving to 1-2 on the year.
In today’s football landscape, there is an abundance of information and stats to consume, and sometimes there’s just too much of it.
So to put a bow on the Colts’ performance from Sunday, I chose five stats that I believe helped define this game, which eventually resulted in a Colts’ victory.
28 Rush attempts
Last week against the Packers, Jonathan Taylor ran the ball just 12 times and Anthony Richardson had just one designed run. This week, there was a more concerted effort to lean on the run game. Between Taylor and Richardson–and excluding kneel-downs–the two would carry the ball 28 times. Taylor totaled 110 yards with two scores and Richardson 28 yards on five runs. As the passing game tries to find traction, this needs to be the blueprint going forward.
14 Points
On a day where Anthony Richardson threw a pair of interceptions, the Colts were still able to win the turnover battle with their defense forcing three takeaways. Also important to note that on those three takeaways, the offense converted two of them into touchdowns, totaling 14 points. A massive swing with points coming off the board for the Bears and instead going up for the Colts.
24:59 Time of possession
The Colts still lost the time of possession battle by quite a bit. Indianapolis held the ball for 24:59 and the Bears for 35:01–10 minutes longer than the Colts. The defense did it’s job getting off the field on third downs, for the most part, along with slowing the run, but the offense still couldn’t sustain drives.
This is largely due to the inconsistency in the passing game, particularly on short to intermediate throws. If there’s an incomplete pass on an early down or a run only picks up a few yards, the offense faces a long down-and-distance situation and can’t dig themselves out of that hole. This time of possession difference resulted in the Bears offense running 84 plays and the Colts just 54–helping them stay in the game late. On a weekly basis, that can be a lot to overcome.
2.3 Yards per rush
The success that the Colts saw on defense began with their run defense. Chicago did try to run the ball 28 times in this game but totaled just 63 yards at an average of 2.3 yards per rush.
Slowing a team’s run game puts the offense in obvious passing situations, allowing the Colts’ pass rush–the strength of this unit–to pin its ears back, along with putting more on the plate of the Bears’ passing game, which had been up and down to start the season.
9 Penalties
The Colts were penalized nine times in this game for 78 yards. Particularly in the first half of the game with the Bears offense struggling to move the ball, it was a few Colts penalties that helped them extend drives. Meanwhile, on offense, early down penalties put the offense behind the sticks, which they just do not have the ability to regularly get themselves out of at this time.
