Where has the Colts run defense gone? Another week, another embarrassment

Last Sunday, Houston went for 213 yards on the ground and held the ball for 40 minutes. This time in Green Bay, it was even worse. This looks like a bad team right now.

MY COUCH, Ind. -- A few days ago, I opined that defensive coordinator Gus Bradley ought to be on the very-hot seat, if he wasn’t already after his group finished 28^th two years running in points allowed. The heat got turned up after the Houston Texans ran for Week 1-high 213 yards against a Colts’ front that Chris Ballard swears is the best group he’s had in his seven-plus years in Indianapolis. Surely, the Colts would over-correct, would load the box, show some pride and toughness against a Green Bay team playing a backup quarterback, Malik Willis, who only arrived in Wisconsin three weeks earlier.

Yeah…not really.

Not at all, actually.

At halftime, I was constructing a tweet reprising my line from the 2006 loss in Jacksonville, when the Colts allowed 375 yards on the ground. That day, I wrote, “The Jags would have run for 500 yards, but the end zone kept getting in the way.” The Packers were well on their way, running the ball 22 of 24 first-quarter plays for 164 yards, an 8.2 yard-per-carry average. The Packers finished with 261 rushing yards on – get this – 53 carries, dominating the time of possession one week after the Colts’ defense was on the field for 40 minutes. And honestly, the Packers hardly tried offensively in the second half, content to bleed the clock, including late in the half, when Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur ran out the clock when his team was driving for another score.

Soft, hapless. Where’s the pride? Where’s the toughness?  Now, to their minimal credit, the Colts adjusted, started competing and kept the Packers under control in the second half, but it was way too late. Green Bay’s creative running attack, which forced the Colts to defend sideline to sideline, had its way, allowing Willis to sit back and make short, low-risk throws. All he did was finish 12-of-14 for 122 yards; nothing spectacular, but efficient.

What do you think the Bears’ gameplan will be next week? And the Steelers the week after that. This isn’t 2006, friends; Bob Sanders is not walking through that door to save the defense as he did in the Super Bowl title year.