It's win and in (the playoffs) for the Colts

This was supposed to be a season dedicated to developing Anthony Richardson. But with Gardner Minshew and a surprising supportive cast, the Colts are 60 minutes from the post-season.

It comes down to Week 18. Just the way we all expected it would.

(That’s a joke.)

With the Chiefs’ late-afternoon victory over the Bengals, the Colts now find themselves in a win-and-in situation; beat the Texans Saturday at Lucas Oil and the Colts are in the post-season.

And who in their right mind thought it would come down to that, a regular-season finale with everything on the line, one year after a four-win season that was nothing short of a small -- no, check that…humongous -- disaster?

“With the way they set our schedule up, I am just thankful we aren’t going to Jacksonville,” linebacker Zaire Franklin said, laughing after the Colts’ massively important 23-20 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

“But the way they set it up, you knew it was possible. After we played Houston the first time and I saw how good C.J. (Stroud) was for real, I kind of looked at it as, ‘Hey, that last game might be the one.’ So, knowing they’re a talented team, knowing they have a lot going for them and a great head coach over there as well, it’ll be a good game.”

I’ll be honest: I have no earthly idea how the Colts are in this position right now. None.

They’ve lost seven players to suspensions of varying lengths, and had an eighth player, Drew Ogletree, added to the commissioner’s list this week. They’re riding with a backup quarterback. They’ve spent roughly half the season without Jonathan Taylor, who still doesn’t have a 100-yard rushing game this season (although he came close Sunday). Their secondary is thin, and young, never more so than they were on Sunday, when they played without Julian Blackmon and Kenny Moore.