Gardner Minshew threw three touchdown passes Saturday and the Indianapolis Colts rallied from an early 13-point deficit to stop the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers 30-13, taking a big step towards earning an AFC wild-card berth.
Minshew completed 18 of 28 passes for 215 yards as the Colts joined Cincinnati, a 27-24 overtime winner over Minnesota earlier Saturday, at 8-6 and in the playoff field if the season ended now.
Mitch Trubisky hit 16 of 23 attempts for 169 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions as Pittsburgh (7-7) sustained a serious hit to its playoff hopes. The Steelers lost their third straight game and again failed to do enough offensively. They have managed only 41 points in that span.
Minshew gave Indianapolis the lead for good when he found D.J. Montgomery for a 14-yard scoring strike with 22 seconds left in the first half, making it 14-13 at the break. Montgomery started the drive by catching a 34-yard pass and Pittsburgh contributed a 26-yard pass interference flag.
The Colts upped the lead to 21-13 less than two minutes into the third quarter when Minshew connected with Mo-Alie Cox for an 18-yard touchdown, one play after Julian Blackmon recovered a fumble by Najee Harris.
Matt Gay padded Indianapolis’ lead with three field goals later in the second half. The Colts outgained the Steelers 372-216.
T.J. Watt recorded two sacks for the Steelers to raise his season count to 16.
Pittsburgh wasted a good start, accomplished in part because its special teams got the job done while Indianapolis’ special teams failed.
After Gay missed a 56-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, the Steelers cashed in a short field with a 54-yard touchdown drive. Trubisky snuck into the end zone on fourth-and-goal for a 1-yard score with 1:12 left.
Pittsburgh increased the lead to 13-0 just over two minutes later. Two plays after blocking a Rigoberto Sanchez punt and recovering at the 1, Trubisky hit Diontae Johnson in the left front corner of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown.
Minshew got the Colts on the board with 11:21 left in the half on a 16-yard scoring strike to Zack Moss.
–Field Level Media
