The Indianapolis Colts suffered a loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers that would have turned into a win had the special teams unit not botched the go-ahead field attempt late in the fourth quarter.

With the Colts trailing 26-24 and 1:14 left, kicker Adam Vinatieri caught the laces and hooked the attempt from 43 yards. It was the 10th kick (five field goals and five extra points) that the 46-year-old has missed in eight games this season.

Despite his struggles, the Colts don’t have any plans to move on from Vinatieri.

“No. A lot of confidence in Adam – no plans to do anything different,” said head coach Frank Reich in a conference call Monday.

Reich also believed the missed kick late in the fourth quarter had more to do with the laces being at the point of contact.

“I think we all saw it. He got the laces, and it was a fluke,” Reich said. “I’ll just say this — it made it a lot tougher on the kicker. It made it a lot tougher on Adam. There are not very many times that you see a kicker actually kick the laces straight on. It just doesn’t happen very often.”

Vinatieri has been far from his usual reliable self during the 2019 season. No longer is he the kicker who instills confidence. It’s a sad truth, but the Colts don’t have the automatic three points to lean on this season.

Regardless, the Colts aren’t making any moves to change their special teams unit, especially with how adamant Reich was about the laces factoring into the missed kick.

“The only time it normally happens is when sometimes – I know this as a holder – I haven’t talked to Rigo (punter Rigoberto Sanchez, who serves as the holder), but you hit a blind spot. You catch the ball, you go to put it down and there’s a split second that you can’t locate the laces,” Reich said. “That doesn’t happen often; it does not happen often. But it happens about once every 100 times and it was just a fluke. Unfortunately, Adam had to kick the laces, and that does play into it in my mind.”

Laces aside, the Colts will need Vinatieri to be more consistent if a playoff run is to be in the cards.