Biggest Winners and Losers From Colts' Loss to Vikings: Who Stood Out Most?

The Indianapolis Colts fell to 2-5 in the 2026 regular season after losing 16-10 to the undefeated Minnesota Vikings on the road.

While this season is all but over, there are still some positives to pull from, at least from an individual performance standpoint.

The current-look Colts are dead in the water, but not all is lost with their future outlook, regardless of how bleak it may seem.

With that being said, I'm taking the opportunity to break down who stood out most in the Colts' most recent showing.

Follow along as I break down the Colts' biggest winners and losers from their Week 7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Winners

Adetomiwa Adebawore

We've been watching Adetomiwa Adebawore's career with great interest, and it's slowly but surely paid off.

The Colts drafted Adebawore in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft (110th overall), betting on his absurd athletic profile and intriguing pass-rush tools.

The fourth-year interior defensive lineman was always envisioned to become the ideal complement piece to veteran DT DeForest Buckner, and that vision is quickly coming into shape.

Adebawore improved upon his career-best performance from earlier this season, a 1.5-sack showing against the Houston Texans, with a legitimate arrival against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 7.

Against the Vikings, Adebawore was all over the place:

5 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 1 pass broken up, and 2 QB Hits.

Adebawore notched career-highs in sacks and tackles for loss, and now sits with a career-best four sacks after just seven games.

Even though Adetomiwa Adebawore is breaking out right at the worst time for the Colts, aka doing so on an expiring deal when the franchise is staring down a full-blown rebuild, the belief the organization has shown in him throughout the years may grant them a solid building block for the future once free agency comes around.

Jonathan Taylor

Shocker: Jonathan Taylor is still a superstar running back.

Taylor had one of his best performances of the 2026 regular season against the Minnesota Vikings, totaling 95 rushing yards and one score on 18 carries.

Taylor's 5.3 yards-per-carry is his best single-game performance of the season so far, and although he failed to reach 100 yards rushing for the first time this season, it's still impressive considering the Colts' opponents have been regularly stacking the box and/or blitzing to disrupt Daniel Jones and Co.

More than anything else, Taylor's performance improved his personal stock.

As the NFL trade deadline nears (11/10 at 4 PM EST), teams will be calling the Colts as they embark upon a cleaned house, and Jonathan Taylor is the top trade candidate to call about.

Colts Owner/CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon views Taylor as "a key part of the organization and a likely mainstay in their rebuild," according to ESPN Insiders Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter.

This makes sense given his fresh extension and consistent production, but the Colts can't value loyalty over the future if the right price comes calling.

Any legitimate Super Bowl contender will be interested in Jonathan Taylor's services, especially those without a bona fide RB1, so while it'd be ideal to keep him around for the looming rebuild, the Colts can't turn down worthwhile trade compensation.

A.J. Haulcy

The Colts' second pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, safety A.J. Haulcy, is finding his footing as an NFL starter.

Haulcy has had some up-and-down showings to kick off his NFL career, but against the Minnesota Vikings, he appeared to have an "I get it now" moment.

The Colts' third-round pick (78th overall) led the team in total tackles (9) and solo tackles (5) in their Week 7 matchup against the Vikings.

Haulcy did have a miscommunication in coverage that led to the Vikings' lone touchdown of the day, but I'm willing to chalk it up to rookie growing pains.

Outside of his lone blip in coverage, Haulcy was lights out.

The rookie defensive back was flying around the ball and looked to be the ideal Nick Cross replacement at strong safety that the Colts envisioned he could become.

Although the future is bleak, at least some of the Colts' recent draft picks are looking like solid foundational pieces to build on.

Losers

Daniel Jones

The Indianapolis Colts know what the quarterback carousel looks like after a near-decade of Chris Ballard roster construction, and Daniel Jones's recent installment looks no different.

Jones had arguably his worst showing of the season in Week 7, which is saying something, considering he's had a handful of stinkers to choose from, and was fresh off his poorest performance of the year against the then-winless Tennessee Titans.

Against the Minnesota Vikings, Jones had similarly poor showing:

13-22 (59% completion) for 108 passing yards (4.9 yards per completion), one interception, and was sacked four times for a 52.8 passer rating

According to Next Gen Stats, Flores' Vikings defense blitzed Jones and Co. on 85.2% of dropbacks, the highest blitz rate by a defense in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). Minnesota generated pressure on 60.9% of those blitzes, with all four of its sacks coming when blitzing.

The Vikings knew exactly how to stop Jones and Co., and the Colts did nothing to stop it.

Jones is just one of two starting quarterbacks in the NFL who have thrown more interceptions (7) than touchdowns (4) through seven weeks of play, joining Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.

The Colts may have financially tied themselves to Daniel Jones for the foreseeable future, but there's an out in his contract that would allow Indianapolis to save ~$38 million if they make him a post-June 1st cut designation.

Regardless of what the Colts decide when it comes to Jones's future in Indianapolis, we've been given no reason to believe that he'll magically become the brief version of himself that helped the Colts jump out to an unforeseen start in 2025.

There's simply no justification as to why Daniel Jones should remain the Colts' starting quarterback moving forward, despite whatever belief head coach Shane Steichen says he has in him.

Spencer Shrader

Aside from his first kick attempt of the new season, a missed extra point attempt, Spencer Shrader was perfect entering Week 7's matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.

Shrader was a perfect 19-for-19 on field goal attempts entering Week 7, including an impressive 6-for-6 on 50+ yard attempts.

However, when the Colts' anemic offense needed him most, Shrader vanished.

Shrader went 1-for-3 on field goal attempts against the Vikings, his second miss being a 48-yard attempt that would've tied the game 13-13 with a little over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

To be fair, Shrader had been the team's MVP through six weeks of play, but as Ross Tucker said during the broadcast, "it's like every week, somebody for the Colts takes turns not doing their job."

I wouldn't be too concerned with Spencer Shrader moving forward, as the worst thing we learned about him from his uncharacteristically poor performance is that he's indeed human after all.

Shane Steichen

Shane Steichen's Colts offense looked to have found a groove against the Minnesota Vikings, as they went 8-15 on third-down conversions and successfully converted their lone fourth-down attempt; it wasn't enough to suggest that they'll perform any better down the stretch.

The Colts entered Week 7 with the worst turnover margin (-8) in the NFL, having gone 11 consecutive games without winning the turnover margin — the longest active streak in the league and the longest for Indianapolis since a 13-game stretch in 1998-99, according to Next Gen Stats — and that streak continued as the Colts lost the turnover battle (-1) against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 7.

Neither Steichen nor defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is doing enough to get the job done.

Although longtime general manager Chris Ballard's midseason firing and the ongoing pressure from ownership suggest they would be coaching elsewhere come next season, the coaching staff's collective seat is getting hotter by the week.

Steichen has had his shortcomings as a head coach, but none bigger than tying himself to Daniel Jones.

The Colts' fourth-year head coach said after the loss to Minnesota that he has "a ton of faith in Daniel [Jones]" and he hasn't considered a change at quarterback.

Chris Ballard did not provide Steichen and Co. with a ton of options, but Steichen's steadfast belief in a broken version of Daniel Jones is borderline a firable offense, especially when he's coaching for his job at this point.

Steichen's conviction in Jones may point more toward a non-belief in Anthony Richardson and/or Riley Leonard, but at this point, there's no reason to think Jones will help right the already sunken ship in Indianapolis.

Add us as a preferred source on Google