| Team: | Indianapolis Colts |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Record: | 8–8 |
| Division Place: | 2nd AFC South |
| Coach: | Chuck Pagano |
| Owner: | Jim Irsay |
| General Manager: | Ryan Grigson |
| Stadium: | Lucas Oil Stadium |
| Playoffs: | Did not qualify |
| Pro Bowlers: | Mike Adams, SS Vontae Davis, CB T. Y. Hilton, WR |
| Shortnavlink: | Colts seasons |
The Indianapolis Colts season was the franchise's 63rd season in the National Football League (NFL) and the 32nd in Indianapolis, surpassing the 31 seasons they played in their original home city of Baltimore. It was also the fourth season under the trio of head coach Chuck Pagano, general manager Ryan Grigson and quarterback Andrew Luck. The Colts entered the 2015 season as the defending AFC South champions after compiling an 11–5 record before falling to the New England Patriots in a controversial AFC Championship game matchup.
After a week 8 loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Colts fired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and elevated associate head coach Rob Chudzinski to replace him.[1] The Colts failed to improve from their three consecutive 11–5 records and finished the season at 8–8. They lost the division to the Houston Texans and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and only the fourth time since 1998. This was their first time to lose to the Houston Texans at home since the Texans entered the NFL in 2002.
See main article: 2015 NFL draft. Source: http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/tracker/by-round#dt-tabs:dt-by-team/dt-by-team-input:ind
| Round | Selection | Player | Position | College | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | |||||
| 3 | 65 | Florida Atlantic | |||
| 93 | Stanford | ||||
| 4 | 109 | Central Florida | |||
| 5 | 151 | Stanford | |||
| 6 | 205 | Mississippi State | |||
| 207 | Georgia | ||||
| 7* | 255 | Denzelle Good[2] | Mars Hill |
| Compensatory selection[3] |
| Position | Player | College | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abou Toure | Waived on August 31[4] | |||
| RB | ||||
| Jean Sifrin | Waived on June 2[5] | |||
| TE | Justin Sinz | Waived on August 31 | ||
| Brandon Vitabile | Waived on August 31 | |||
| Ezell Ruffin | Waived on August 31 | |||
| WR | Quan Bray | |||
| WR | Tyler Rutenbeck | [6] | ||
| Al-Hajj Shabazz | ||||
| CB | Josh Mitchell | |||
| CB | Donald Celiscar | Waived-injured on August 31 | ||
| CB | Raymon Taylor | [7] | ||
| Justin Shirk | Waived on August 31 | |||
| ILB | Junior Sylvestre | |||
| Cody Galea | ||||
| OLB | Terrell Hartsfield | Waived on May 10[8] | ||
| OLB | Zack Hodges | Waived on August 31 | ||
| Robert Smith | ||||
| Taylor Ponitus | [9] |
| Position | Player | Free agency tag | Date signed/released | 2015 team | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 10, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [10] | ||||
| March 10, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [11] | ||||
| UFA | March 10, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [12] | |||
| UFA | October 14, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [13] | |||
| UFA | March 11, 2015 | [14] | ||||
| UFA | March 8, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [15] | |||
| April 27, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [16] | ||||
| UFA | April 15, 2015 | [17] | ||||
| UFA | February 26, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [18] | |||
| ERFA | April 1, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [19] | |||
| RFA | – | – | – | |||
| ERFA | March 10, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [20] | |||
| ERFA | September 15, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [21] | |||
| RFA | March 3, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [22] | |||
| UFA | August 19, 2015 | [23] | ||||
| UFA | March 10, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [24] | |||
| UFA | April 24, 2015 | [25] | ||||
| ERFA | June 30, 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | [26] | |||
| UFA | March 11, 2015 | [27] | ||||
| RFA | March 11, 2015 | |||||
| UFA | March 10, 2015 | [28] | ||||
| UFA | March 10, 2015 | [29] |
| Position | Player | 2014 Team | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UFA | Signed on February 3, 2015.[30] | |||
| UFA | Signed on February 3, 2015.[31] | |||
| UFA | Signed on March 3, 2015.[32] | |||
| UFA | Signed on March 8, 2015.[33] | |||
| UFA | Signed on March 10, 2015.[34] | |||
| UFA | Philadelphia Eagles | Signed on March 10, 2015.[35] | ||
| DE | UFA | Signed on March 10, 2015.[36] | ||
| WR | UFA | Signed on March 11, 2015.[37] | ||
| LB | UFA | Signed on March 20, 2015.[38] | ||
| WR | UFA | Signed on March 31, 2015.[39] | ||
| S | UFA | Signed on April 3, 2015.[40] | ||
| Position | Player | 2015 Team | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UFA | -- | Released on February 11, 2015.[41] | |||
| UFA | -- | Released on February 11, 2015.[42] | |||
| UFA | Released on February 11, 2015. | ||||
| Linebacker | LB | UFA | -- | Released on February 16, 2015.[43] | |
| UFA | Released on February 23, 2015.[44] | ||||
| UFA | Released on March 12, 2015.[45] | ||||
| Running back | RB | UFA | Released on March 12, 2015.[46] | ||
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Game site | NFL.com recap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 16 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 10–36 | 0–1 | Lincoln Financial Field | Recap | |
| 2 | August 22 | Chicago Bears | L 11–23 | 0–2 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | |
| 3 | August 29 | at St. Louis Rams | W 24–14 | 1–2 | Edward Jones Dome | Recap | |
| 4 | September 3 | Cincinnati Bengals | L 6–9 | 1–3 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap |
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Game site | NFL.com recap | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 13 | at Buffalo Bills | L 14–27 | 0–1 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 2 | New York Jets | L 7–20 | 0–2 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | |||
| 3 | September 27 | at Tennessee Titans | W 35–33 | 1–2 | Nissan Stadium | Recap | ||
| 4 | October 4 | Jacksonville Jaguars | W 16–13 | 2–2 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | ||
| 5 | at Houston Texans | W 27–20 | 3–2 | NRG Stadium | Recap | |||
| 6 | October 18 | New England Patriots | L 27–34 | 3–3 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | ||
| 7 | October 25 | New Orleans Saints | L 21–27 | 3–4 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | ||
| 8 | at Carolina Panthers | L 26–29 | 3–5 | Bank of America Stadium | Recap | |||
| 9 | November 8 | Denver Broncos | W 27–24 | 4–5 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | ||
| 10 | Bye | |||||||
| 11 | November 22 | at Atlanta Falcons | W 24–21 | 5–5 | Georgia Dome | Recap | ||
| 12 | November 29 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 25–12 | 6–5 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | ||
| 13 | December 6 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 10–45 | 6–6 | Heinz Field | Recap | ||
| 14 | December 13 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | L 16–51 | 6–7 | EverBank Field | Recap | ||
| 15 | December 20 | Houston Texans | L 10–16 | 6–8 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | ||
| 16 | December 27 | at Miami Dolphins | W 18–12 | 7–8 | Sun Life Stadium | Recap | ||
| 17 | January 3 | Tennessee Titans | W 30–24 | 8–8 | Lucas Oil Stadium | Recap | ||
With the loss, the Colts fell to 0–1.
With the upset loss, the Colts fell to 0–2 for the second straight year.
After trailing 14–0 in the first half, the Titans would score 27 unanswered points to take a 27–14 lead. However, the Colts would own the fourth quarter, as they outscored Tennessee 21–6. The Titans had a chance to tie the game after pulling within 35–33, but the 2-point attempt failed, and the Colts held on for the win. With the win, the Colts improved to 1–2 and picked up their 8th straight win over the Titans.
Due to an injured shoulder, Andrew Luck missed the first game of his career, and was replaced by 40-year-old veteran Matt Hasselbeck, who avoided any turnovers and led the Colts to a 16–13 win in overtime. Jacksonville kicker Jason Myers would miss 3 game-winning field goal attempts at the end of the fourth quarter and one in overtime. Adam Vinatieri would nail the game winner in overtime to give Indianapolis the win. With the win, the Colts evened their record at 2–2.
Despite a Hail Mary being thrown at the end of the first half, the Colts still managed to hold on for the win. With their 3rd straight win, the Colts improved to 3–2, and set a new NFL record for most consecutive wins against division opponents with 16.
This game was notorious for a terrible playcall by the Colts, now known as the Colts Catastrophe. With the Colts trailing 27–21 late in the 3rd quarter, Pagano opted to run a scrimmage play using special teams on 4th and 3 on the Colts' 37-yard line. However, a bizarre formation resulted in a Patriots tackle for loss, Colts turnover, and a flag for illegal formation. The Patriots easily scored a touchdown on the next drive and went on to win the game by 7 points, 34–27. The playcall was universally criticized and was considered by many to be the worst play in NFL history.[47]
In the Super Bowl rematch between the two teams, the Saints started the first half, dominating the Colts 20–0, which stunned Indy's home crowd. The Colts looked for answers in the second half, but Andrew Luck struggled to find open receivers and he was intercepted twice.
The Colts traveled to Charlotte to take on Cam Newton and his undefeated Carolina Panthers, looking to hang their first loss on them. After struggling much in the first half, the Colts answered back in the fourth quarter. However, it wasn't enough to stop the Panthers in overtime and the Colts would lose 29–26.
Peyton Manning returned to Indianapolis for the final time.
Late in the fourth quarter, with the Colts leading 27–24, they looked to extend the lead on a field goal by Adam Vinatieri, but it was overturned and the Colts still won 27–24.
With the win, the Colts went to 4–5, while the Broncos suffered their first loss and dropped to 7–1.
However, two days later, Andrew Luck was hospitalized with a lacerated kidney along with an abdominal injury. He ended up missing the rest of the season, putting more pressure on veteran backup Matt Hasselbeck, who was 2–0 in 2 starts due to Luck's previous injury.
The Colts would trail 21–7 late in the third quarter, but they would fight back to tie the game at 21 after D'Qwell Jackson returned an interception at the Atlanta 6-yard line for a touchdown. The Colts would then later on march down the field to win it with an Adam Vinatieri field goal with 52 seconds left. With the win, the Colts improved to 5–5. They also improved to 14–2 all time against the Falcons.
With the win, the Colts improved to 6–5 and remained in the playoff hunt.
The Colts would suffer an embarrassing loss on national television to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers would lead for the majority of the game, and the Colts could not get into any rhythm. With the loss, the Colts fell to 6–6.
The Colts would lead 13–3, but Jacksonville would outscore Indianapolis 48–3 from then on. With the loss, the Colts fell to 6–7 and lost to a divisional opponent for the first time since 2012, snapping their NFL record 16-game winning streak in division play.
This, notably, is the Colts' first loss to the Texans at Lucas Oil Stadium since the latter team began play in 2002.
With the win, the Colts improved to 7–8. This was Matt Hasselbeck's final career game.
With the win, the Colts ended their season at 8–8 and won their 9th straight game against the Titans.