Indianapolis Colts: Painter, Colts Defense Can't Get It Done in Loss to Chiefs

In the wake of a monumental collapse against the Kansas City Chiefs, it's hard to find much optimism for an 0-5 team that has found every way possible to lose this season. The Colts 24-28 loss at home to the Chiefs featured a wretched second half that spoiled all the good of the first two quarters at Lucas Oil Stadium. 

I suppose Colts fans need to start to count the few blessing that we have left. Here are those small signs of hope:

• Pierre Garcon played spectacularly again. His big-play potential is huge for the Colts offense.
• Pat Angerer is a beast at middle linebacker and keeps racking up tackles to maintain his lead in the NFL for that statistic.
• The optimistic side of me would say that Curtis Painter showed that he can effectively lead this offense. The pessimistic side of me would say that Painter played out of his mind for two quarters and then crashed back to earth with his inconsistent ways in the second half.
• The Colts defense played well in the first half of the game and pinned their ears back nicely to limit the Chiefs third-down conversions.
• The Colts limited returns from the Chiefs Javier Arenas on special teams.

Here is why those signs of hope quickly fade when we consider the following awful moments of ineptitude from this game:

• Joseph Addai, the Colts most versatile offensive weapon, went down with an injury in the first quarter. Rookie Delone Carter never got things going (he averaged a paltry 1.8 yards per carry on 12 carries) and Donald Brown (while better) didn't spark the running game enough either.
• When cornerback Jerraud Powers went down, the Colts coverage got appreciably worse. I can't think of a less-inspiring cornerback trio than the raw rookie Chris Rucker, Jacob "Loose Cover" Lacey and Terrence "Missed Tackle" Johnson. Just awful stuff from those guys in the second half.
• The Colts run defense is still a farce. They gave up 119 yards and a 6.3 yards-per-carry average to the heretofore-unknown running back Jackie Battle. Giving up huge chunks of yards to unheralded backs is a Colts tradition. I think the Colts are trying to make names for every single back-up and third-string back in the league.
• If the Colts offensive line and Curtis Painter couldn't score any points against a soft Kansas City defense in the second half, I worry that the Colts may be headed for an oh-fer (as in 0-16) of a season. Who can the Colts score on if they make the Chiefs defense look like the second-coming of the Steel Curtain?
• And to cap it all off, blowing a 17-point lead is just deplorable. The Colts aren't a good enough offense to overcome that type of defensive collapse.

The Chiefs were eminently beatable, yet the Colts choked away the second half and lost in ignominious fashion. The injuries that have ravaged the team both last year and this year continue to pile up. Peyton Manning is on the sideline.

So, my fellow Colts fans...prepare yourself for a tough go. The next 11 games won't be any easier than this one.