The Indianapolis Colts turned to 44-year-old Philip Rivers after Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending injury, hoping his return could keep their playoff hopes alive. Instead, a 48–27 loss to the San Francisco 49ers pushed the Colts to the brink of elimination and marked their fifth straight defeat. Frustration only boiled over after the blowout, and Rivers delivered a pointed message to the locker room.

“This locker room’s hurting. Again, I’ve been a part of it for a short time for two losses,” he said. “We just got to find a way to dig deep and find a way to win a football game. And we can’t worry about all the scenarios and all the things out there. I know they’re all out there. I know what they are. But we got to find a way to win a football game or none of the scenarios come into play.”

Well, Rivers is trying his best. On the final play of their first drive of the game, He spotted the receiver, Alec Pierce, running into the end zone from left and made a deep throw. Safety Ji’Ayir Brown ran behind him and tried to pull the ball out, but Pierce clasped it. Just before the pass, the referees also threw the flag for defensive holding, but the Colts began with a score.

What disappointed everyone was the Colts’ sole interception in the fourth quarter. Rivers threw the ball to the right to tight end Tyler Warren. But linebacker Dee Winters intercepted it and ran to the right. He faced no contest from the Colts and raced into the endzone. Guard Matt Goncalves tried to chase him, but was no match. It showed a lack of effort from the team that wants to qualify for the playoffs badly.

They were one of the strongest teams until their bye week (11) with an 8-2 record. Now, they need to be lucky.

Philip Rivers’ move has almost failed for the Colts

Currently, the Houston Texans are in seventh place in the AFC playoff picture with 10 wins. So, the Colts needed a victory to stay in contention and move one win closer. But they failed, which has pushed their playoff qualification probability to only 2%.

If the Texans win their Week 17 game against the Los Angeles Chargers, they will qualify. Then, the Colts will be out. But if the Texans lose and the Colts win their next game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, they will still have a fighting chance.

Both the Texans and the Colts will face each other in the season finale. If Philip Rivers & co. win their next two games, and the Texans lose both, then the strength of victory (SOV) will be the determining factor.

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It’s pretty complicated, but this is the bottom line. The Colts need to win the next two games at any cost if they really want to play in the postseason games.