Oct 19, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen celebrates a touchdown in the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Shane Steichen Crushed Chargers with Masterclass Performance

Originally posted on Indianapolis Colts on SI
By Zach Hicks | Last updated Oct 22, 2025 3:21 PM ET

The Indianapolis Colts' offense is on a historic pace to start the 2025 season. They lead the league in just about every major metric, all while scoring 33.2 points per game.

The expected regression appears to be a thing of the past, and now, the goal is to see just how far this elite offensive output can take the organization.

This past Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers was supposed to be a hard fought battle between two playoff contenders in the AFC. The Chargers defense came into the game a bit healthier, as star edge rusher Khalil Mack returned from injured reserve and thumping linebacker Denzel Perryman returned from injury as well.

In what appeared to be a slight regression game for the Colts' high-powered offense turned into the best offensive output by any team in the NFL in a game this season. The Colts boasted an insane 0.434 EPA (expected points added) per play mark, which is the highest mark by an NFL offense this year. They had the number one offense in terms of success rate this past week, and had nearly double the rush epa as the next closest team.

Top 5 offensive performances by EPA/play in the NFL this season:

1.) Colts (vs. Chargers)
2.) Colts (vs. Titans)
3.) Lions (vs. Bears)
4.) Ravens (vs. Bills)
5.) Buccaneers (vs. Seahawks)

(Data from https://t.co/9TsvBBOxeQ)
— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) October 22, 2025

The Colts' offense simply clicked in all facets, dropping 38 points with relative ease on the hapless Chargers' defense. It's hard to give too much credit to one area of the Colts' offense for this showing, although three touchdowns on the ground from Jonathan Taylor certainly helped.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Colts punted just two times in this game and converted 4-of-5 opportunities in the redzone for touchdowns (the lone field goal coming in the final seconds of the first half).

Quarterback Daniel Jones hit his second-highest passer rating mark of the year (113.4), tossing 288 yards and two scores on the day. Steichen made life easy for his veteran quarterback, mixing in a healthy dose of misdirection and play-action calls that left elite playmakers alone in the flats.

Whenever it felt like the Chargers were mounting a comeback in this game, Jones and the offense marched right back down the field for another score.

I broke down Steichen's elite playcalling performance in detail over on my YouTube channel this week. It's hard to find a better display of a playcaller in a rhythm than this, as Steichen was able to create chunk play after chunk play by exploiting the flaws in the Chargers' defense.

The number one offense in football kept the train rolling this past week, and I expect it to continue going forward.