While Bears and Raiders Ace Week 3, Colts Face the Grade Inflation Problem That Could Define Their Season

Listen, I have been watching football for more years than I care to count, and I will tell you something that has been rattling around in my head like a loose helmet facemask after watching the grades come down from Week 3. Grades are funny things in this business. They are supposed to measure performance, supposed to tell you who is doing it right and who is doing it wrong, but sometimes I wonder if we are all grading on the same curve or if some teams are getting the benefit of the doubt while others are getting the short end of the stick. This week, as the Chicago Bears earned themselves an A+ for beating the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football, and the Las Vegas Raiders also picked up an A- for their victory over the New Orleans Saints, I started thinking about what those grades really mean for a franchise like Indianapolis that is sitting down here trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be going forward.

Let me be straight with you because that is how I have always tried to operate in this space. The Colts came into Week 3 with some legitimate questions swirling around them like dust in a Kansas wind. We had Anthony Richardson, that tremendous young quarterback prospect that the organization traded up to get, dealing with injury concerns and playing through physical battles that would test any player. We had a defense that was supposed to be better but was not always showing up when the lights were brightest. We had an offensive line that looked inconsistent at times. And we had a team trying to prove that the offseason moves, the coaching changes, and the overall direction of this franchise was headed in the right direction. Then we got absolutely walloped by Chicago on Monday night, and that is what I want to talk about because it tells us something really important about what the Colts are facing right now.

When I look at the A+ grades that Chicago earned for their performance, I get it. They looked sharp. They executed. They dominated on both sides of the line of scrimmage. That is football at its finest, and there is no shame in giving them credit where credit is due. But here is what I keep coming back to as someone who has watched the Colts for years now: we need to understand what this loss actually tells us about the state of Indianapolis, and it is not just about the scoreboard. It is about where this team stands in the hierarchy of the league right now, and more importantly, it is about what the front office needs to understand about the remaining weeks of this season and the decisions that are coming down the pike.

The Colts came into that game hoping to make a statement. They wanted to show that they could compete with anybody in the National Football League. They wanted to prove that all the turmoil from the offseason, all the changes, all the uncertainty was leading somewhere positive. Instead, Chicago came in and reminded them, and reminded all of us really, that there are still some significant gaps between where Indianapolis wants to be and where they actually are right now. That is not doom and gloom talk. That is just honest evaluation, the kind you need to have when you are trying to build something sustainable.

Now let me talk about what really gets me thinking about the grade inflation angle that I mentioned up front. When you see an A+ grade handed out for a win against a team, any team, you have to ask yourself what the baseline is for excellence. Are we saying that the Bears played perfect football, or are we saying that the Bears played better football than their opponent? Because those are two different things entirely, and in many cases, they lead to very different conclusions about what the future holds. In the case of the Colts, they are sitting at a certain record, they are dealing with injury issues, they are still trying to figure out their quarterback situation, and they are looking ahead to a schedule that includes some of the toughest competition in the entire league. An A+ for beating them might be more about what Chicago did right than it is about some profound statement of power dynamics in the league overall.

Here is where I think the Colts need to use this as a teaching moment. I remember watching Peyton Manning play in Indianapolis, and one of the things that made him great was his ability to learn from losses. Not just to move on, not just to shake it off and forget about it, but to actually absorb the lessons and adjust. That is what the Colts organization needs to do right now. They need to look at what Chicago did that worked so well, they need to understand the structural problems that allowed the Bears to impose their will so effectively, and they need to make adjustments. Whether those adjustments are tactical, personnel-based, or something else entirely is something the coaching staff and the front office need to figure out, but the groundwork for that analysis has to start immediately.

The Raiders getting an A- for beating the Saints is a different story, but it also connects back to the Colts in an interesting way. The Saints, like the Colts, are a team in transition trying to figure out their identity and their direction. When you lose to teams that are hungry, that are trying to establish themselves as serious contenders, it tells you something about the gap between your aspirations and your current reality. The Colts cannot afford to keep falling behind in these kinds of matchups because the draft position conversations, the trade deadline conversations, and the overall trajectory of the season all depend on stringing together wins against the teams that are around you in the standings and trying to make their own moves up the ladder.

What this all means for Colts fans, and I say this with genuine care for this fanbase because Indianapolis fans have been through a lot and deserve better, is that we are at an inflection point. The grades from Week 3 are not just about celebrating Chicago and Vegas. They are a mirror being held up to the Colts to show them where they stand. We have got nearly a full season ahead of us still. There is plenty of time to make corrections, to find an identity, to string together wins and get back into contention. But that process starts with accepting what happened against Chicago for what it was, learning the lessons that need to be learned, and then going out and proving that the Colts are capable of earning their own A grades on the field through execution and smart football. That is what separates the contenders from the also-rans, and that is what Indianapolis needs to prove right now.