The Indianapolis Colts (7-6) are hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6) for their Week 15 matchup.
Both teams will be looking to increase their chances of landing an AFC playoff spot with a win. After looking through both team's seasons, I believe there is a clear key to victory for the Colts.
While both the Colts and Steelers are 7-6 on the year, the way each win games is very different. The Steelers offense has been an area of struggle all season long. The struggles got so bad that they fired their offensive coordinator, Matt Canada, midseason. And the Colts offense, run by head coach Shane Steichen, has found a way to put up points despite losing their starting QB Anthony Richardson for the season early this year.
Finding a way to score despite their offensive struggles has been the key to the Steelers picking up wins. Five of their seven wins this season come when they score 20 or more points. And they have lost six of the eight games where they score less than 20.
The Colts defense will attempt to keep the Steelers offensive struggles going this week. The Steelers have lost three of their last four games and haven't scored over 18 points during this stretch.
This is a pattern the Colts will want to focus on, as they are 5-0 in games this season where their opponent scores 20 or fewer points. In fact, the least amount of points scored by an opponent in a Colts loss this season was 29 points by the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4. The most points scored in a game by the Steelers this season is 26 points, doing so at the beginning of the season in their Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns.
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