#ForTheShew; Gardner Minshew proves again why he's the best backup in the business

The Colts beat the Titans in overtime -- because of Minshew, because of the wide receivers, because of the pass rush and because of special teams. Don't look now, but Indy is a playoff contender.

MY COUCH, Ind. -- In this, the Year of the Backup Quarterback, the Colts have the best backup of them all. Sure, Gardner Minshew has struggled at times, especially when he went through that span of nine turnovers in three games, but he’s bounced back, the Colts have bounced back from 3-5 and, well, wow:

Colts 31, Titans 28, in overtime.

Brought back memories of Vick Ballard’s dive for glory back in 2012 against these same Titans.

Can we get #ForTheShew trending?

He had never won three games in a row as a starter. Now Minshew and his come-from-nowhere Colts have won four straight for the first time since 2018. The word on the street was you couldn’t win a game with Minshew throwing 40-plus passes; he had lost eight straight when throwing for 300-plus. Sunday in Nashville, he completed 26-of-42 passes for 312 yards, two touchdowns and a 100.5 rating.

On the game-winning drive in overtime, Minshew threaded the needle to Michael Pittman, who’s making himself lots of money each passing week, then dropped a gorgeous go-ball to Alec Pierce (he had his first 100-yard game as a pro), followed shortly thereafter by a beautifully schemed touchdown pass to Pittman in the back of the end zone for the game winner.

“We ran kind of a pick play for a slant and they (the Titans) traded it off and then Pitt kind of wrapped around,” Minshew said. “It was the same one (DeAndre) Hopkins scored on for them.”