Colts' defense takes a major step forward by forcing turnovers and stuffing run in win over Bears

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts' defense spent two weeks hearing critique after critique.

Some fans complained about the stats showing the unit couldn't stop the run and couldn't get off the field, and argued the solution would be firing defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.

Inside team headquarters, players and coaches went to work. And on Sunday, they finally responded by neutralizing Chicago's ground game, forcing quarterback Caleb Williams to throw 52 times in a crucial 21-16 victory.

“We all knew we had a job to do and the last thing you want to do is let someone down,” defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis said Monday. “Stopping the run, it's your pride. You want to withstand, withhold and show who you are.”

The Colts certainly showed they could problem solve after starting Week 3 bruised by the 237 yards rushing it allowed over the first two weeks, battered by injuries and quickly becoming the butt of jokes around town.

Things looked even bleaker when Indy's most consistent defender, three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, went on injured reserve with a sprained ankle.

Somehow, though, the Colts (1-2) made all the right plays against Chicago (1-2).

On fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Lewis took it upon himself to threw Bears running back DeAndre Swift for a 12-yard loss.

Cornerback Jaylon Jones picked off two passes — one on the run that might have gone for a touchdown if his momentum hadn't carried him out of the bounds; the other an acrobatic, one-handed snag near the sideline.

The Colts harrassed Williams, this year's No. 1 overall draft pick, repeatedly and forced an errant throw on a 2-point conversion pass that could have cut a five-point deficit to three.

And rookie pass rusher Laiatu Latu, the first defensive player taken in April's draft, got the strip-sack that led to Jonathan Taylor's second TD run that essentially sealed the victory.

It wasn't happenstance.

“I just remember when (defensive end) Kwity (Paye) had told me I would get that look to attack a certain person,” Latu said after the game. "I did that on the edge and then shoot — Caleb was right there about to throw it, and I went for the ball.”

Now that Indy has succeeded once, albeit against a team that entered Sunday with just one offensive TD, the question becomes can the Colts continue to play this way?

Next up: Unbeaten Pittsburgh and quarterback Justin Fields, who runs a struggling offense ranked in the bottom quarter of the league in total yards and points — just like Chicago.

But if the Colts want the complaints to cease and desist, they must find a way to replicate the way they performed against the Bears.

"The defense played their tails off,” coach Shane Steichen said. “I think 63 yards on the ground, three takeaways — helluva a job by those guys.”"

Taylor. The 2021 NFL rushing champ reverted to his old form against the Bears, freeing himself up for a 29-yard TD run to start the scoring, using his power for a 1-yard TD plunge to make it 21-9 and adding a late 13-yard run in the waning minutes to run out the clock. He has posted back-to-back 100-yard games and has three TD runs in four weeks.

Penalties. For a team that has been on the wrong side of the time of possession battle, badly, eliminating the flags certainly would help. Indy had nine penalties for 78 yards against Chicago and, at one point in the first half, had more penalty yards than total yards.

Jones. The Colts need their young cornerbacks to start asserting themselves and with the injured JuJu Brents out, it was the 2023 seventh-round draft pick who made quite the impression Sunday. In addition to coming up with the first two interceptions of his career, Jones batted a halftime heave out of the end zone and had five tackles, two for loss.

Anthony Richardson. Yes, the second-year quarterback is now 3-4 as the starter. But through three games this season, he’s completing just 49.6% of his throws. In the last two games, Richardson has thrown five interceptions and just one TD pass. He finished Sunday's game with a passer rating of 39.0.

Buckner (ankle) and Brents (knee) are already on injured reserve and two more starters were hurt in the waning minutes Sunday: Pro Bowl CB Kenny Moore II (hip) and Paye (quadriceps). Neither returned and Steichen had no updates Monday.

2.3 — The Bears ran 80 plays Sunday, but only 28 were runs, largely because they averaged a paltry 2.3 yards per carry against the Colts.

Sunday's game was the most promising game to date this season. While the defense has strung together three consecutive solid halves, Taylor has run effectively. It's a winning combination that could help the Colts start living up to their own expectations.

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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) is hit by Chicago Bears defensive tackle Chris Williams (91) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) is pressured by Chicago Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. (99) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) runs against the Chicago Bears during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) is pressured by Indianapolis Colts defensive end Tyquan Lewis (94) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) throws a pass against the Indianapolis Colts during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indianapolis Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu (97) celebrates a play against the Chicago Bears during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Indianapolis Colts cornerback Jaylon Jones (40) tips the ball away from Chicago Bears tight end Gerald Everett (14) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The co-founder of the company that owned the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic told a Coast Guard panel Monday that he hoped that the silver lining of the disaster will inspire a renewed interest in exploration, including the deepest waters of the world's oceans.

“This can’t be the end of deep ocean exploration. This can’t be the end of deep-diving submersibles and I don’t believe that it will be,” said businessman Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Stockton Rush.

Sohnlein ultimately left the company before the Titan disaster in June 2023. Rush was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded. Though Sohnlein left the Washington company years ago, he spoke in defense of its efforts in the aftermath of the submersible’s implosion.

On Monday, he testified that the company wanted to create a fleet of four or five deep-diving submersibles capable of carrying five people to 6,000 meters (6,500 yards) deep. The plan for the company was to have no dedicated mothership — which would've lowered costs substantially, he said.

“We wanted to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean,” Sohnlein said.

Sohnlein testified that the company zeroed in on the use of carbon fiber for the doomed vessel because the company wanted a lightweight, less costly submersible that did not need to be tethered to a specific mother ship. He testified that the use of carbon fiber as “not a novel idea” and said “people have looked at that before.”

No existing submersible builders could meet the company’s requirements, necessitating the pivot to building its own subs, Sohnlein said. And he said the company worked closely with the Coast Guard during development.

Sohnlein said he had the opportunity to dive in Titan “many times” and he declined. He said his reasons included not wanting to take space away from potential customers. He said when Rush reached a point when it was “time to put a human in there,” he wanted to do it himself. Rush felt it was his design and said “if anything happens, I want it to impact me,” Sohnlein said.

The Coast Guard opened a public hearing earlier this month that is part of a high level investigation into the cause of the implosion. Some of the testimony has focused on the troubled nature of the company.

Earlier in the hearing, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money. “The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge testified. “There was very little in the way of science.”

But Sohnlein said Monday that neither he nor Rush was ever “driven by tourism” and the idea of visiting the Titanic, which had already been explored by others, was not exciting to either of them.

Sohlein also testified Monday that he left the company in 2013 as the company transitioned to engineering, which he described as a bigger strength of Rush's than his. He said it was a “fairly easy decision” for Rush to take over the company, but it was more difficult to decide whether to stay on at all.

Ultimately, Sohnlein said, he didn't feel it made sense for the company to continue paying him a salary of $120,000 for a reduced role. He said he maintained a minority stake in the company that still exists.

The hearing is expected to run through Friday and include more witnesses. Roy Thomas of the American Bureau of Shipping also testified Monday and detailed the challenges associated with carbon fiber as a material for submersibles. He said carbon fiber is "susceptible to fatigue failure under repeated external pressurization."

Phil Brooks, a former OceanGate engineering director, said he was the first person to analyze data after the company’s dives. He said the final authority on whether the Titan’s hull was fit to dive again after analysis was Rush.

An earlier engineering director with the company testified last week that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier. Tony Nissen said Rush could be difficult to work for and was often very concerned with costs and project schedules.

Lochridge and other previous witnesses painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.

Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan’s unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.

OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees currently, but has been represented by an attorney during the hearing.

During the submersible’s final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about Titan’s depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.

One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the hearing.

When the submersible was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said. No one on board survived.

OceanGate said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021.

In a still from from a video animation provided by the United States Coast Guard an illustration of the Titan submersible, right, is shown near the ocean floor of the Atlantic Ocean, as June 18, 2023 communications between the submersible and the support vessel Polar Prince, not shown, are represented at left. (United States Coast Guard via AP)

Co-founder of Titan to testify before Coast Guard about submersible that imploded

This June 2023 image provided by Pelagic Research Services shows remains of the Titan submersible on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. (Pelagic Research Services via AP)

Co-founder of Titan to testify before Coast Guard about submersible that imploded