At one point during the 2021 regular season, the Indianapolis Colts were deemed as a dark horse contender to make a deep run in the NFL playoffs. However, this all changed over the Colts’ final two games of the campaign.

The Colts came away with a narrow three-point loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 17, and even as they needed a mere win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the following week to officially clinch a playoff spot, they notched a double-digit defeat. Veteran quarterback Carson Wentz garnered plenty of blame for the pair of defeats, as he completed under 60 percent of passes and combined for two passing touchdowns thrown in the two contests.

Much has been speculated that had the Colts secured a spot in the playoffs last season, Wentz would still be the team’s starting quarterback heading into the 2022 season. As Colts general manager Chris Ballard touched on to ProFootballTalk, this may not have been the case.

“I think we still would’ve had some hard discussions,” Ballard said. “Just the way we played down the stretch, and we knew we needed to make some improvements in that area. The one thing I think [owner] Jim [Irsay] and I and [coach] Frank [Reich] are when we know something’s not a good fit, don’t just try to justify it. Let’s move forward.

“We all knew we were going to get egg on our face. That is what it is, but at the end of the day it’s about doing the right thing for the organization. I think even if we would’ve ended up in the playoffs, we would’ve had some hard discussions going forward.”

The writing was on the wall with Wentz’s future in Indianapolis following the loss to Jacksonville. For one, Colts head coach Frank Reich noted after the defeat that the passing game over the second half of the season was simply not “good enough.” From there, the Colts wound up finding a suitor for Wentz in the Washington Commanders.

With Matt Ryan now under center for Indianapolis, high expectations are already set on the Colts to make a return to the playoffs in the upcoming 2022 season.