The Indianapolis Colts had possibly the weirdest NFL season the league has seen in a long time. Starting with three wins on the trot, the Colts were firmly in control with an 8-2 record entering the bye week.
What transpired afterwards came as a shock to the fans as the franchise dropped their remaining 7 games to finish the season 8-9. The 7-game losing streak eventually forced the Colts out of the playoffs, despite being the favorites to land the number 1 seed in the AFC at one point in the season.
The Colts’ offense got off to a terrific start. Having brought in Daniel Jones under center, the Colts thrived both in the air and on the ground with Jonathan Taylor producing one of the finest seasons of his career. Unfortunately, though, Jones suffered a season-ending injury in Week 14, putting them in a major spot of bother.
The Indianapolis Colts will play their customary 17-game regular season, but this year they will have 8 home games and 9 road games. As is the league’s norm, Indy will play 6 divisional games against the Jaguars, Texans, and Titans.
Along with those 6 games, the Colts will play all 4 teams from the AFC North and all 4 teams from the NFC East as per the league’s rotation policy. The remaining 3 games will come against the third-placed teams from the AFC East, AFC West, and the NFC North since the Colts finished third in their division the previous season.
| Opponents | Home/Away | Division | Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Texans | Home | AFC South | TBD |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | Home | AFC South | TBD |
| Tennessee Titans | Home | AFC South | TBD |
| Baltimore Ravens | Home | NFC North | TBD |
| Cincinnati Bengals | Home | NFC North | TBD |
| Miami Dolphins | Home | AFC East | TBD |
| Dallas Cowboys | Home | NFC East | TBD |
| New York Giants | Home | NFC East | TBD |
| Houston Texans | Away | AFC South | TBD |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | Away | AFC South | TBD |
| Tennessee Titans | Away | AFC South | TBD |
| Cleveland Browns | Away | NFC North | TBD |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | Away | NFC North | TBD |
| Kansas City Chiefs | Away | AFC West | TBD |
| Philadelphia Eagles | Away | NFC East | TBD |
| Washington Commanders | Away | NFC East | TBD |
| Minnesota Vikings | Away | NFC North | TBD |
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our 2026 opponents. pic.twitter.com/3bbu4Jow7Q
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 4, 2026
The Indianapolis Colts’ strength of schedule is one of the easiest in the league with respect to the teams they are bound to play and how those teams fared in the 2025-26 season. Sources indicate a (.465) as their strength of schedule for the 2026-27 NFL season, placing the Colts tied in the 28th spot with just the Bengals, Saints, and Browns having easier schedules.
The reason the Colts have one of the easiest schedules in the league for the upcoming season is that they will play only 4 teams that made the playoffs last season, including the Steelers, Eagles, Texans (twice), and Jaguars (twice).
However, they should remain wary of several other opponents, such as the Ravens, Bengals, Chiefs, Cowboys, and more. While none of these teams made it to the postseason, all have enough talent on the roster to cause problems.
That said, the Colts will also go up against teams like the Giants, Browns, and Titans, where they will fancy their chances of coming out on top.
The AFC South has suddenly come alive with the Jaguars and the Colts stepping up their games last season. The Texans had been the clear favorites over the previous couple of seasons, but that is no longer the case.
While the Titans are still rebuilding, the fight for supremacy in this division is once again likely to see a 3-way battle. Daniel Jones was having arguably the best season of his career, but how he will look post surgery will remain a question.
Indianapolis would do well to add some depth at the linebacker and secondary positions from the draft. This offseason, the Colts will need to build around the first half of last year’s season. But, at the moment, they look to be just a tad behind the Texans and the Jaguars in the AFC South.
Our Prediction: Colts to miss the playoffs in the 2026-27 NFL season.
According to the latest Super Bowl odds on FanDuel, the Indianapolis Colts have (+4000) odds to win Super Bowl 61 next season. These odds place the Colts in the middle of the table.
Frankly speaking, the Colts do not appear ready to lift the Lombardi Trophy just yet. While they began the 2025-26 season in red-hot form, the manner in which they went on to lose 7 straight games to fall out of the playoffs was striking.
The team will need more depth and balance since a couple of injuries on both sides of the ball completely derailed their campaign. Going toe-to-toe with the big teams from both conferences for a Championship seems a bit of a stretch for the Colts at the moment.
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Within the Conference, the Colts have (+2000) odds to win the AFC, as per FanDuel. Once again, this puts them in the bottom half of the table, with several other teams having better odds.
The AFC has been a tough conference for several years now. Many teams, such as the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, and Bengals, have been in the running over the past few seasons, and teams like the Broncos and Patriots are coming up. Moreover, the AFC South is also becoming competitive once more, which means there will be plenty of hurdles in Indianapolis’ path to the AFC conference championship.
The Colts’ odds to win the AFC South are set at (+340), as per FanDuel. When it comes to the division odds, the Colts are behind the Jaguars and the Texans, but ahead of the Titans.
As mentioned previously, the AFC South is becoming a tight division, and if the Colts and Jaguars continue to improve, the Texans will no longer be the team to beat in the division. What will be interesting is to see how Indianapolis performs in the upcoming season, as that will paint a clearer picture of whether the start of last season was a one-off or the real deal.
The above odds are sourced from FanDuel. Use FanDuel to ace your betting game in all sports!
Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
nfl I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!
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