Joe Flacco's limitations are exposed in the ugly loss to the Vikings

MINNEAPOLIS – The Colts made the difficult decision to abandon their development plan for Anthony Richardson because they believed Joe Flacco could provide an offense that was far too inconsistent through the first eight games of the season.

Flacco provides efficiency where Richardson provided inaccuracy, offensive command where Richardson was limited, experience where Richardson was still learning to prepare the way a quarterback needs to prepare on a weekly basis.

But the Colts gave up something to get something on that play, and Minnesota's defense exposed the limitations of Flacco's version of Shane Steichen's offense in a 21-13 loss, the worst offensive performance of the Indianapolis season.

“Anytime you have a game like we had tonight, you're probably a little surprised that you couldn't get it going,” Flacco said. “You know, it's going to be difficult to play against a team like this here, but I don't think you would ever expect something like this.”

By that, Flacco was referring to a night in which the Colts posted a season-low 227 yards of offense and another season-low of 68 rushing yards while failing to score an offensive touchdown; The only time Indianapolis reached the end zone was when Kenny Moore II pounced on a ball that was stripped away from Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold by a marauding Grover Stewart.

Minnesota's defense is not an easy target.

Under defensive coordinator Brian Flores, the Vikings run a complex blitz system with many different looks and coverages, rolling through the defense like a hungry man looking for options at Chipotle.

Flacco seemed better suited to handle all the complexity than Richardson.

The tricky part, both encouraging and discouraging, is that he has largely figured out Minnesota's exotic Rolodex of pressures. The Vikings recorded three sacks, but all three came on the Colts' final drive when Indianapolis was in desperation mode.

For the most part, Flacco had time to throw.

“I thought we did a good job,” Flacco said. “At the end of the day, I don’t think they…maybe they brought singles and stuff like that, but I felt like our guys up front did a great job. It was more about us not executing.”

Minnesota beat the Colts on the back end.

The Vikings use many different coverages, but Flores stuck to one simple principle Sunday night. Whatever he called, Flores wanted to keep two safeties over the top – he wasn't going to let Alec Pierce beat him on the field.

“They did a great job defensively, leading most of the game,” Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen said. “We've also mastered a few curl routes indoors, obviously a few times, but yeah, we have to find ways to get those chunks going compared to other looks.”

Richardson's lack of accuracy – he has completed just 44.4% of his throws this season, the worst mark in the league – has been a significant problem for the Indianapolis offense this season.

However, his penchant for pushing the ball downfield at all costs does have some advantages. Richardson almost always finds a way to produce explosive plays.

Flacco had a big arm when he was younger, and the Colts signed him, in part because they believed he would be more likely to throw the ball downfield than former backup Gardner Minshew, whose reluctance to throw the ball downfield was much too The field left a lot of yards left a season ago.

But in the four games Flacco has played this season, it's become clear that he can't consistently make explosive plays when a team is playing back. Flacco's yards per attempt for the season is now 6.6; Aside from a late explosion from Pierce against Jacksonville's terrible secondary, Indianapolis' passing game was a dink-and-dunk with Flacco at the helm.

When a disciplined team plays over the top like the Vikings did, Flacco will have a hard time dropping the lead anyway. Flacco must ensure that security is guaranteed in the traditional way.

“Get the running game going and do some stuff underneath,” Flacco said. “You have to do your best to keep the attacks going at the start of the game and maybe get them out without doing any of that. You know, that means making some passes and running the ball.”

Flacco's presence makes running the ball more difficult than it was with Richardson at the helm.

Indianapolis was somewhat hesitant to use Richardson, perhaps wanting to protect a player who has struggled with injuries in his first two seasons, but the threat of a player who has averaged 5.9 yards per carry this season , has a tendency to open holes against even the best run defenses.

Minnesota has one of those defenses.

The Vikings entered Sunday night's game ranked third in the NFL in both yards per carry and rushing yards per game. Indianapolis superstar Jonathan Taylor rushed for 22 yards on his first three carries, then managed just 25 yards on his next 10 carries and was surrounded by a Vikings defense that only had to attack the running back.

“We have to run the football efficiently there with JT and stuff, but we’ll sort it out,” Steichen said. “I have every confidence that they will clean this up.”

The limitations of Flacco's version of the offense lie more in the game than in principle.

In some ways, Flacco's experience opens up the playbook and allows the Colts to develop bigger, deeper game plans.

“There are definitely a lot of different things we can call just based on his experience,” Taylor said. “There are not that many RPOs. … We have these play calls; Joe can check something if he wants. It reminds me of (former Colts quarterback Philip Rivers); he could call anything.”

From a simpler, more philosophical standpoint, however, a defense can limit the Colts' options by taking parts of the playbook away from Steichen through their play.

Not every defense is as good as Minnesota's. Not every defense will be able to shut down Taylor or be disciplined enough to track down all of Steichen's deep receivers, not the way the Indianapolis head coach has been able to do so far in his Colts career to keep open.

However, if a defense can do both jobs, Indianapolis has to string together their offenses, and the Colts haven't been good at all in that particular part of the game this season. Indianapolis had the ball for just 23 minutes and six seconds Sunday night; The Colts have had the ball an average of nine minutes less than their opponents this season.

“(We have to) stay on the field,” Taylor said. “The bottom line is this is the National Football League. We have to combine drives.”

The Colts have won games with both quarterbacks this season.

They believe they can win with Flacco at the helm.

“As long as we have a week of practice,” wide receiver Alec Pierce said. “When it's in play, it's definitely a little more difficult because we're making slightly different types of plays. … I think the chemistry between the two of us is right.”

Indianapolis made the change to open up the offense.

Minnesota proved Sunday night that moving to Flacco doesn't eliminate all of the limitations of Indianapolis' offense.

The move merely shifts the hurdles that Steichen and his employees must overcome.

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