One bad Joe Flacco performance shouldn't change Colts' QB decision

Last week, the Indianapolis Colts made the controversial decision to bench former fourth overall pick Anthony Richardson after awful performances against the Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans.

In his place, Joe Flacco got the start against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 9. It was a move that was immediately met with criticism.

That criticism only continued after Flacco put together a terrible performance of his own. In Minnesota, Flacco completed just 16 of 27 passes for 179 yards and threw an interception. He also led the Colts offense to only three points.

Sure, that wasn't what Colts fans wanted to see after the QB that is supposed to be their franchise's future was benched, but Indy has decided to stick with Flacco for Week 10, and it should stay that way beyond their next game.

The reason for it should have nothing to do with which QB gives the Colts a better chance to win right now but should have everything to do with handling Richardson's career correctly for the future.

Heading into last year's draft, the scouting report on Richardson was very clear. He was absurdly athletic with a huge arm, but he was also very raw after throwing just 393 passes throughout his college career.

Despite that lack of experience Richardson and the fact that they had Gardner Minshew available as a bridge QB, the Colts decided to throw the young QB right into the fire. That move hasn't paid off.

While he put his potential on display as a rookie, accounting for seven touchdowns in four starts, this year has been tough to watch. Richardson has completed just 44.4% of his pass attempts, which is worse than any other QB in the league by a wide margin. The offense has struggled as a result.

It shouldn't come as a huge surprise with what we've seen at the position in recent years as QBs have struggled early in their careers at a staggering rate. 

Bryce Young has also been benched after being drafted ahead of Richardson.

Caleb Williams has struggled this year. The 2021 and 2022 draft classes were almost a complete waste of time at the position.

The QBs that have succeeded early have mostly had one of two things working in their favor. They've been older or had a lot of college experience. Brock Purdy started for four years at Iowa State. Joe Burrow was 23 when he was drafted. Jayden Daniels started for five years in college.

Richardson didn't have that experience to lean on when he arrived in the NFL and was just 20 when he was drafted.

Now the Colts can fix their mistake of rushing Richardson. The young QB has the chance for a reset on his career that most struggling QBs don't get from the team that drafted them. 

That reset has worked well for some other prospects after their original teams gave up on them.

Geno Smith and Sam Darnold were both disasters with the Jets. Since resurfacing with other teams after spending some time as backups, they have both completely turned their careers around. Smith leads the NFL in passing yards and Darnold is currently 6-2 with the Vikings.

Even if Flacco is terrible for the rest of the year, the Colts need to stay the course and give Richardson the time to develop on the bench that he should have gotten at the start of last season. Otherwise, he could end up "seeing ghosts" like Darnold was with the Jets.