Fresh off their bye week, the Indianapolis Colts find themselves in what is essentially a must-win game against Denver in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Sunday’s game will be played in Denver at Empower Field at Mile High with a rare mid-afternoon kickoff for Indianapolis, with the start time at 4:25 PM ET.
This pivotal AFC matchup will be broadcast on CBS with a very familiar crew on the call for the Colts. Spero Dedes will be doing the play-by-play, with Adam Archuleta providing the analysis, and Aditi Kinkhabwala on the sidelines.
To see if the game will be broadcast in your area, head over to 506sports.com, where the broadcast maps will be available on Wednesday.
The Colts find themselves at 6-7 on the season and two games behind Denver for the AFC’s final playoff spot.
A loss all but eliminates them from playoff contention as it would put the Colts three games behind the Broncos with three games to play, while Denver would also hold the head-to-head tie-breaker.
With this outcome, the New York Times playoff simulator has the Colts’ playoff odds at only 9%, requiring a collapse down the stretch from either Baltimore or Los Angeles.
However, on the flip side, a win over Denver and the Colts are only one game out of a playoff spot, hold the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Broncos, and have the easiest remaining schedule in football.
“We all know,” Shane Steichen said via the Indy Star. “We’re not going to be oblivious to how big this game is, but we know that we’ve got to handle our business, and we’ve got to prepare the right way and go play a football game. That’s going to be the main message.”
