Embarrassing. Uninspired. Crushing.
Fresh off of a bye week and with their franchise quarterback returning after missing most of the season, this was supposed to be where things began to shift for the Jaguars.
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Instead, it put a stamp on just how much work lies in front for the Jaguars to become a competitive NFL team.
Jacksonville was bullied by the Colts and inept on both sides of the ball in a 33-13 blowout loss that showed just how far away the team is from where it thought it would be.
The return of Nick Foles was supposed to make the latter half of the season different, bring more stability to a team that rode the ups and downs of rookie quarterback for the first eight games.
The effort against the Colts (6-4) was a step back in every way possible.
Not only was Foles erratic — somewhat expected after missing most of the season after surgery for a broken collarbone — but the Jaguars were abysmal everywhere else, too.
Foles finished 33 of 47 passing for 296 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception and had issues both underthrowing and overthrowing passes. His touchdown strikes both went to D.J. Chark, including a garbage time score with 59 seconds left that skewed just how uneven Sunday was.
Running back Leonard Fournette had just eight carries for 23 yards and never got going.
The Jaguars (4-6) needed to close the season out strong to have a shot to reach the playoffs. Now, it’s looking more and more like the Jaguars have to win out or sit home for the second consecutive season.
Even worse, the Jaguars would have struggled to have a shot against the Colts, even with a solid day from the offense.
The defense was as ragged as it has looked all season, joining clunkers against the Chiefs and Panthers.
Marlon Mack ripped off one big run after another (14 carries, 109 yards, TD) before leaving in the third quarter with a hand injury. His replacement, Jonathan Williams, was just as difficult to tackle. He finished with 109 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. The pair of 100-yard rushers marked the first time that the Colts had done that in franchise history.
The Colts gashed Jacksonville on third downs, the worst of those a 31-yard pass from Jacoby Brissett to Williams that picked up 31 just two minutes into the fourth quarter.
At that point, it was still a manageable deficit, a 10-7 Colts edge and Jacksonville hanging on. But Indianapolis built off of that huge third-down strike and polished off the drive with a 1-yard scoring pass from Brissett to Marcus Johnson.
Indianapolis put things away after that. Brissett added a 5-yayrd rushing touchdown A 48-yard run by Williams on the following drive set up a Nyheim Hines 7-yard touchdown run and the blowout was on.
Not even the always reliable Josh Lambo left Indianapolis unscathed. Lambo missed his first field goal attempt of the season in the fourth quarter, pulling a 46-yard attempt right.