Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

Colts at Titans, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS

HOUSTON – These are the 2016 Indianapolis Colts: Having neither the physical talent nor the mental toughness to finish off the mediocre Houston Texans in a mostly empty stadium after its front-running crowd had long since scurried for the exits.

On the bright side, after blowing a two-touchdown lead in the final three minutes to turn certain victory into a 26-23 overtime loss, the Colts were spitting mad Sunday night.

Kidding!

The Colts were resilient. They were steadfast. Man after man they said much the same thing in the locker room afterward, platitudes about “watching the film” and “getting back to work” because “we’ve got to put it behind us.”

Colts defense chokes it away in crunch time

Of all the Colts I visited with in the locker room after this collapse, the only one who seemed genuinely disgusted was veteran running back Frank Gore. And he was furious, frustrated almost to the point of tears.

“I didn’t come here for this,” the proud former 49ers star was pleading. “I came here to get into the tournament.”

He was talking about the Super Bowl tournament, also known as the NFL playoffs. Winning this game would have put the Colts in the thick of the AFC South race, forcing a three-way tie with the Texans and Tennessee Titans at 3-3. Losing it? That dropped the Colts to 2-4, two full games behind the Texans (4-2), one game behind the Titans (3-3) and a half-game behind Jacksonville (2-3).

Oh my god. Do you realize what this means? It means the Colts are in last place in the worst division in football.

“We’ll go back to work tomorrow,” coach Chuck Pagano was saying afterward. “What else are you gonna do?”

Gee, Chuck, I don’t know. Maybe something else. Maybe anything else. Maybe not going back to work tomorrow. Maybe taking the week off and just showing up Sunday at Tennessee. Try it that way.

It’s not like practice is working.

We’ve seen some bad stuff from the Colts this season, starting with that last-minute collapse against Detroit in the opener and later the embarrassing team effort required to lose to Jacksonville in London. Hell, even the win last week against the Chicago Bears was abysmal, the Colts surrendering more than 500 yards to an offense led by Brian Hoyer.

But this? This was the worse yet, a choke of historic proportions. Since 1994, 402 teams have gone into the final five minutes with a lead of at least 14 points. Of those 402 teams, just nine have found a way to lose. according to pro-football-reference.com.

The Colts are the ninth, and they did it against the Texans. Missing their best player, injured defensive end J.J. Watt. Struggling at quarterback. Not competitive in two of their last three games, blowout losses to New England and Minnesota.

Those Texans.

For the Colts to pull this off, they had to allow a 75-yard scoring drive as the Texans closed to within 23-16 with 2:37 left. Then they had to go backward 11 yards on offense, facing fourth-and-21 from their own 10 and having to punt from their end zone. And then they had to allow Houston to race 53 yards in just three plays to score one more touchdown and force overtime.

In overtime: One fruitless possession on offense. One benevolent series on defense. That’s how a 23-9 lead becomes a 26-23 loss.

These are the Colts. They find a way to lose. It’s their gift.

And it’s always the same way, by the way. After trying to win for 3½ quarters Sunday night, the scaredy-cat Colts tried their darndest not to lose in the final minutes. Which means they’ve learned nothing from their previous failures this season, like that season-opening choke against Detroit when their prevent defense prevented them from winning.

Insider: Colts loss must leave Jim Irsay fuming

You want irony? Here’s your irony. I asked Pagano a few days ago about his team’s struggles on defense, and what he’d do to fix them. This is what he said:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again, right?” Pagano said. “And getting different results. So we won’t try to go down that road.”

And then they went down that road. They put their damn car in cruise control and took a Sunday drive down the same scared road they always seem to find. They hope their prevent defense will bend but not break. They take no chances on offense, meaning no turnovers – but no first downs. They see their lead shrink.

A mentally tough team with a late lead breaks the opponent over its knee. But the Colts? They hop on their opponent’s knee and break themselves.

Loss in OT overshadows Gore’s 106-yard performance

On the final question of Pagano’s postgame press conference, I asked him why the Colts coached one way for about 55 minutes, then another way down the stretch. He made excuses. And then said he wouldn’t make excuses.

“You guys saw who we had,” Pagano said. “You guys know who was in the game at the end and who wasn’t. Looked like a M*A*S*H unit on the sideline, but we will not make excuses. Whoever has to go out there has to be prepared to play winning football.”

Every team has injuries. But for 55 minutes, this one was good enough to beat the Texans and claim a share of first place in the AFC South.

And then with five minutes left the Colts remembered who they are, deep at their core. They are underachievers. They are timid. They are scared. And they are, for the fourth time in six games, losers.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel

Colts at Titans, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS