Matt Ryan

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Matt Ryan and head coach Jeff Saturday endured no shortage of vitriol from Twitter on Saturday after the Colts blew a 33-0 lead and fell 39-36 to the Minnesota Vikings in overtime.

Minnesota's win marked the biggest comeback victory in NFL history in the regular season or playoffs, breaking the record of a 32-point comeback previously held by the Buffalo Bills, who overcame that deficit in a playoff win over the Houston Oilers in the 1992 season.

The Vikings trailed 33-0 at halftime because of a cavalcade of errors that included a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, a lost fumble by running back Dalvin Cook, a pick-six thrown by quarterback Kirk Cousins and two failed fourth-down conversions.

It was an entirely different story in the second half and overtime, though, as the Vikings scored 32 unanswered points after a Colts field goal made it 36-7 in the third quarter.

Josh Dubow of the Associated Press noted that the Colts are only the second team since 1930 to lead by 30 or more points in a game and lose:

There was plenty of blame to go around for Indy's collapse, but much of it fell on Ryan and Saturday.

Ryan now holds the distinction of being the losing quarterback in the biggest comeback in NFL history, as well as the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, as Ryan's Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

Not surprisingly, people on Twitter took advantage of the opportunity to troll Matty Ice:

While Ryan didn't play a great game with just 182 yards and one touchdown, he didn't turn the ball over either, and it can be argued that Saturday deserves even more of the blame.

The Colts already fired head coach Frank Reich this season and replaced him with Saturday on an interim basis, which was a controversial decision since he didn't previously have any coaching experience beyond the high school level.

Many on Twitter referenced that fact and joked about the Colts potentially firing two head coaches in the same season:

Others pointed out the irony that the Colts' former head coach, Reich, is no longer on record as being the winning quarterback in the largest comeback in NFL history due to the coaching performance of his replacement:

The Colts' season was already essentially over before Saturday's game since even winning out wasn't likely to yield a playoff spot, but now that they are 4-9-1, their fate is sealed.

Meanwhile, the Vikings improved to 11-3 and clinched the NFC North with their win, meaning they will play at least one postseason game at home.

What would have been a hugely embarrassing home loss for the Vikings turned into the ultimate embarrassment for the Colts and left them searching for answers for 2023 and beyond.

The Matt Ryan trade is proving to be a disaster for the Indianapolis Colts as they continue to search for a reliable signal-caller in the post-Andrew Luck era.

Indianapolis fell to the Dallas Cowboys 54-19 on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium, and Ryan was a big reason why the Colts dropped to 4-8-1 on the season.

Ryan completed 21-of-37 passes for 233 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He posted a passer rating of 59.8, and the Colts posted a total of five turnovers.

It was a continuation of what has been an underwhelming year for the former Atlanta Falcon. After starting the team's first seven games of the season, Ryan, who suffered a Grade 2 shoulder sprain, was benched for Sam Ehlinger in Week 8, though the move would have happened regardless of the veteran's injury.

Ehlinger was expected to start the remainder of the season for the Colts, but new head coach Jeff Saturday went back to Ryan in a Week 10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and Ryan has started ever since.

Following his latest blunder against the Cowboys, NFL Twitter ripped Ryan as a complete and utter disaster:

Ryan entered Sunday's game having completed 68.8 percent of his passes for 2,642 yards and 11 touchdowns against 10 interceptions in 10 games.

The 37-year-old is under contract with the Colts through the 2023 campaign with a cap hit of $35.2 million, per Spotrac. However, it's unclear if he'll still be on the roster beyond this season, and releasing him would cost the Colts $18 million against the 2023 salary cap.

At this point, the Colts should be shifting their attention to some of the best quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL draft class, especially considering they'll likely have the opportunity to land one of the best young signal-callers in the nation.

Indianapolis Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday explained Monday night why he elected not to use timeouts during Indy's final drive of the game in a 24-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Coming out of the two-minute warning, Colts quarterback Matt Ryan was sacked for a loss of seven yards and then scrambled for 14 yards on second down, leaving him a few yards short of the first.

The Colts had all three of their timeouts, but rather than taking one and regrouping prior to the third-down play, they stayed in their offense and handed it off to running back Jonathan Taylor, who was tackled for no gain.

Saturday finally used the team's first timeout after that with 30 seconds left, and the Colts were then stopped on 4th-and-3 in Steelers territory when Ryan's pass was broken up, effectively ending the game.

According to ESPN's Stephen Holder, Saturday said the following when asked about the logic behind not using any timeouts earlier in the sequence, particularly before the Taylor run:

"I thought we had a good play. And I felt like we would get it. Obviously, we didn't do a great job [blocking] on the backside, so it's worse. But I felt good about the call before. Felt like we had time, we would have timeouts afterwards. We were in striking distance. So, I never felt like the pressure of needing the timeout. We just didn't execute it."

Saturday added that he would have preferred if Ryan had been able to "snap it a little bit earlier" in the play clock, but he again downplayed the time issue, saying he "never felt pressed for time."

The Colts trailed 16-3 at halftime, but Saturday's team mounted a comeback, scoring back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 17-16 lead.

Pittsburgh answered in the fourth when running back Benny Snell found the end zone from two yards out, and rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett completed a two-point-conversion pass to rookie wideout George Pickens, putting the Steelers back on top 24-17.

The Colts had their opportunities to strike back, but the offense sputtered, much as it has throughout the season.

Offensive issues played a huge role in head coach Frank Reich's firing, which led to Saturday's surprising appointment as interim head coach.

Saturday is a beloved figure in Colts history as a six-time Pro Bowl and two-time first-team All-Pro center, as well as a Super Bowl champion, but his coaching credentials are limited.

Prior to being named interim head coach, Saturday had only served as the head coach at Hebron Christian Academy in Georgia from 2017 to 2020.

Naturally, Colts owner Jim Irsay's decision to hire Saturday sparked some criticism, although the move initially seemed to work well, as Indy upset the Las Vegas Raiders in his first game at the helm.

He then nearly led the Colts to a huge win over the Philadelphia Eagles, who came from behind to down the Colts 17-16.

The honeymoon phase may now be over for Saturday, though, especially in the wake of Monday's failed two-minute drill. Calling timeouts may not have made a difference in the end, but the Indianapolis offense seemed hurried, and the decision to hold off on timeouts may have contributed to that.

Indianapolis Colts head coach Jeff Saturday announced Matt Ryan will remain the team's starting quarterback in the aftermath of Monday night's 24-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"Matt's gonna continue being the guy," Saturday told reporters.

Ryan completed 22 of his 34 throws for 199 yards with one touchdown and one interception as the Colts fell to 4-7-1. He also rushed for 22 yards and lost a fumble. Indianapolis' offense finished with just 290 total yards.

Lackluster quarterback play is a major reason the Colts are beginning to fade from the AFC playoff race.

Indianapolis acquired Ryan, the 2016 NFL MVP, from the Atlanta Falcons with hope he could solve the QB issues that have plagued the team since Andrew Luck's retirement in 2019.

After a stretch of mediocre play from the 37-year-old Boston College product, former Colts head coach Frank Reich announced the team would move forward with 2021 sixth-round pick Sam Ehlinger as its starter for the remainder of the campaign.

After Saturday replaced Reich following a Week 9 loss to the New England Patriots, he placed Ryan back in the starting lineup.

Neither quarterback has delivered, as the Colts have thrown just 11 passing touchdowns in 12 games.

"It's frustrating. There's no doubt about it," Ryan told reporters. "... It's one thing one week, it's another thing another week, it's another thing another week, and that part has been frustrating for sure. I think all of us in the building feel that way and are disappointed with where we're at."

The Colts aren't eliminated from postseason contention, but their remaining schedule doesn't do them any favors.

They play three of their next four games on the road against the Dallas Cowboys (8-3), Minnesota Vikings (9-2) and New York Giants (7-4). Their only home game during that stretch comes against the Los Angeles Chargers (6-5).

Indy does wrap up the regular season with a highly winnable home clash with the Houston Texans (1-9-1), but it's going to take a herculean effort to remain in the playoff mix at that point.

If the Colts are going to put together a massive turnaround, it'll have to start with much better play from Ryan and the offense down the stretch.

Clock management may not be a strength for Indianapolis Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday.

Trailing 24-17 with all three timeouts, the Colts got the ball back with 3:52 remaining in the fourth quarter in Monday night's matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They faced a tough task, taking over at their 7-yard line, but drove to the Pittsburgh 37 to face 4th-and-3 with two minutes to play.

Indianapolis converted, but the issue was that Saturday and the Colts failed to manage the clock. Matt Ryan was strip-sacked by Alex Highsmith on the next play and then scrambled for 14 yards on second down. The seconds continued to drain away until Saturday called his first timeout following an unsuccessful running play on 3rd-and-3. That left the Colts with only 30 seconds to spare.

The poor clock management became less relevant when Ryan's fourth-down pass for Parris Campbell fell incomplete. But it nonetheless caught the eye of NFL Twitter, and the responses were not sympathetic:

Saturday defended his timeout usage, or lack thereof.

"I thought we had plenty of time. I wasn't too concerned," he told reporters about allowing 30 seconds to tick away after Ryan's scramble. "We had plenty of timeouts. This wasn't a press for time."

Still, ending a one-score game with two timeouts isn't ideal. The Colts, had they converted on fourth down, wouldn't have had much time to work with.

It's the sort of moment that critics of Saturday's hiring after Frank Reich was fired—given that Saturday had no head coaching experience in the NFL or college—will point to as justification for their skepticism.

Granted, the Colts might not have been in need of a game-tying drive if they had been less dreadful in the first half, which ended with the Steelers up 16-3. And while Ryan was far better in the second half, leading the team on two scoring drives, he still finished 22-of-34 for 199 yards and a touchdown with an interception, a lost fumble inside the Pittsburgh 5-yard line and three sacks.

The Colts, now 4-7-1, couldn't afford to let a game like this slip away. They may need to win out to even have a chance at the postseason.

The finer details, especially in endgame scenarios, are incredibly important in the NFL. A failure to convert a key fourth down ended the game, but Saturday's clock management leading up to that play justifiably raised eyebrows.

The buck in Indianapolis has finally stopped with Frank Reich.

The Colts fired their head coach Monday following a ghastly offensive showing in Week 9's 26-3 loss to the New England Patriots. Indianapolis managed just 121 total yards of offense and scored more points for the Patriots (six) than it did for itself.

Reich, 60, was 40-33-1 over the course of his four-plus seasons as head coach. The Reich era was defined by a revolving door at the quarterback position, which began when Andrew Luck unexpectedly announced his retirement in August 2019.

Each of Reich's five seasons in Indianapolis began with a new starting quarterback under center, with Matt Ryan taking over in 2022. Ryan was benched in favor of Sam Ehlinger before Week 8's loss to the Washington Commanders.

The move came as a slight shock given Colts owner Jim Irsay publicly backed Reich just one week ago.

The quick about-face from Irsay already has some wondering whether general manager Chris Ballard is next on the chopping block.

Ballard has been the Colts' general manager since 2017. He fired former coach Chuck Pagano following his first season at the helm and then made an unsuccessful run at then-New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in 2018 before settling on Reich.

The Colts have made the playoffs just twice under Ballard and have won only one playoff game.