What happened to the Colts’ defense?

Oct 26, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) celebrates a touchdown in front of Indianapolis Colts cornerback Greg Toler (28) during the first half of their game at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s be honest here: Sunday’s game was not fun to watch for a Colts fan.

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 522 yards along with six touchdowns. After a quiet first quarter, Antonio Brown exploded for 133 yards along with two scores on his 10 catches. Rookie Martavis Bryant got in on the fun with 83 yards of his own along with two scores on his five catches. Heath Miller drank from the fountain of youth and found 112 yards and the end zone once. As a cherry on top, Le’Veon Bell accumulated 148 all-purpose yards and made the Colts’ defense pay for every single one of them. This offense could do nothing wrong all afternoon.

What the heck happened to this Colts defense?

Now three days removed from the bloodshed that was the Colts/Steelers tilt, it seems an eternity ago that the Colts held the Cincinnati Bengals from scoring at all. But last week, the Steelers scored 51 to make up for it. In just seven days-worth of time, the Colts defense went from stalwart to stagnant. The coverages were weak, the run-stopping was unorganized and the team lacked a certain gusto that they exuded against the Bengals. Of course, the biggest difference was territory; playing in the friendly atmosphere of Lucas Oil Stadium surely is more beneficial than in front of a raucous Heinz Field crowd on one of Ben Roethlisberger’s best career days.

Also, it’s important to realize that the Steelers’ offense is not like the Bengals’ offense; not even close.

Without A.J. Green, the Bengals had no legitimate go-to target. Mohamed Sanu is fine and Giovani Bernard is a fine back, but there’s a significant drop after them. Andy Dalton is mediocre as best while the offensive line can’t hold more than one dominant pass rusher. This is certainly opposite of the Steelers: Brown is enjoying the best season of any AFC wide receiver while Bell is making a case for one of the best overall backs in the league. Beyond those two, Heath Miller is as reliable of a target as they come while Bryant and Markus Wheaton are both great young targets. Pittsburgh’s offensive line stalwart, giving their quarterback as much time as he desires, no matter what look the defense brings. Put Roethlisberger’s best performance ever on top of that and Pittsburgh’s offense looks rather unstoppable.

But let’s stop praising the enemy and figure out what went wrong on the side of the ball that Colts fans will have to deal with all season.

As mentioned earlier, Brown had a quiet first quarter, but why? For the most part, Brown was blanketed by Vontae Davis, who is enjoying an All-Pro caliber season. When Davis went down with a knee injury at the beginning of the second quarter, CB2 Greg Toler slid over to take his spot. Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Todd Haley noticed. Brown was immediately targeted more often and he reciprocated with another fantastic receiving day. Once Davis went down, Pittsburgh’s potent passing attack became lethal.

However, in order to make up for a star corner’s absence, the defensive front seven must play strong and disciplined football to keep the run game and intermediate pass game in check. D’Qwell Jackson and Jerrell Freeman learned early that Bell would be problem. When the defense started focusing on Bell, Heath Miller was left wide open on way too many plays. The front unit made up for the lack of good intermediate coverage by providing nothing resembling a pass rush. Roethlisberger could stand in the pocket for seven seconds at time to take all the time he needed. He stood, unmoving, and made pinpoint throws.

There are four main aspects of defense. Typically, the Colts choose two or three and excel in them to stop the opponent. However, in this matchup, the defense was abysmal in all four aspects:

Deep coverage: Once Davis was out, deep balls to Brown became Roethlisberger’s favorite throws.
Intermediate coverage: If Heath Miller’s 112 receiving yards doesn’t tell how badly the Colts failed at this, I’m not sure what does.
Pass rush: No sacks, Cory Redding and Erik Walden each were hurt at some point on Sunday; no sacks, one quarterback hurry, 51 Big Ben dropbacks. VERY unsuccessful.
Run defense: Bell had 92, LeGarrette Blount added 21. They were easily the undermined offensive option and STILL combined for 113 rushing yards.

Let’s give credit where it’s due: Pittsburgh had one of the most spectacular offensive performances in the entire NFL so far this season and they did everything well. However, it was certainly aided by a Colts defense that straight up terrible.

Greg Manusky has a job to prep this team for the Giants on Monday.