There hasn't been much to celebrate so far this season in Indianapolis. The Colts lost a heartbreaker to the Detroit Lions in Week 1 and were throttled in Denver a week ago. For the third straight season, the Colts started the season 0-2.For a time Sunday, it appeared the Colts were headed for 0-3 and another week of doomsday predictions and uncomfortable questions. But in rallying to defeat the San Diego Chargers 26-22, the Colts did more than just notch their first win of the season and give fans a reason to celebrate.The team also sent notice that the reports of their demise in the AFC South may have been greatly exaggerated.The impetus for Indy's first win of the season was exactly what you'd expect it to bequarterback Andrew Luck chucking the ball downfield to star wideout TY Hilton.For the second time in three weeks, Luck topped 300 yards passing. Luck's preferred target was Hilton, who hauled in eight catches for 174 yards. Hilton's last catch of the night was the biggest, a 63-yard score that gave the Colts the lead in which Hilton's blazing speed was on full display.As Nat Newell of the Indy Star reported, Luck gave all the credit for the game's biggest play to his favorite target in the passing game: "You look to your playmakers in those situations and T.Y. is that playmaker," Luck said. "One of the heartbeats of the team."Luck also allowed that getting their first win of the season lifted a dark cloud from around the Colts:Now, not all that ails the Colts magically disappeared on that play. The strike to Hilton was Luck's only touchdown on the afternoon. The fifth-year veteran threw his second interception of the season. And Luck's pass protection was spotty behind a banged-up offensive line.However, there were also positives outside that big play. Veteran tailback Frank Gore topped 80 total yards and found the end zone. With No. 2 wideout Donte Moncrief sidelined by a fractured clavicle, tight ends Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle stepped up, combining for nine receptions for 100 yards.The news was even better on the other side of the ball. With an injury-depleted Colts defense finally starting to get healthy, a unit that entered the weekend 29th in the NFL had by far its best outing of the season, allowing only one offensive touchdown to a San Diego team that was 10th in the league in scoring entering the week.In fact, it was one of the returning defensive starters (strong safety Clayton Geathers) who made the play that salted away the win, popping the ball loose with about a minute left in the game:An emphatic victory it was not. Style points were not racked up in bunches. But a win's a win, and this particular W came at just the right time.If Week 3 was any indication, the AFC South isn't exactly a buzzsaw in 2016. The only team in the division with a winning record (the Houston Texans) was just spanked 27-0 by a New England squad that started its third-string quarterback.The Colts were the only AFC South team to notch a win in Week 3. The aggregate record of the division is 4-8. And only one of those four wins came against a team with a winning record.For all the Colts' struggles to this point in the season, they're only a game back of first place in the division. And the next month sets up well for the team to make a run at erasing that deficit.Of the Colts' opponents over the next four weeks, only one has won more games than it has lostthe first-place Texans. Two of their next four opponents (including the Jacksonville Jaguars next week in London) are still searching for their first win of the season.This is the perfect time for the Colts to both get healthy and get fat off a weak stretch in the schedule. There's no reason why the Colts can't enter their Week 8 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs at 4-3 at least. 5-2 is a real possibility.In other words, right in the thick of the playoff hunt.All this isn't to say the Colts don't still have problems. Indy needs to play more consistently on both sides of the ball. San Diego's fumble return for a score Sunday was the third such occurrence in the past two gamesa trend that has to stop.But it was premature to start throwing dirt on the Colts after the Denver game. An early-season case of the yips isn't necessarily a death knell. The Colts remain a team with more than a little talent (especially on offense) and a superstar quarterback.The Colts have been here before, as well. Two years ago after the team started 0-2, the same questions were asked regarding what was "wrong" with the Colts. The same proclamations were made that the team was done.The Colts finished the season 11-5, won the division and made it to the AFC Championship Game.Maybe it was just a matter of the defense starting to get healthy. Maybe it was just a matter of Luck shaking off rust borne of missing half of last season. Maybe Sunday's win, while not overly pretty, was the beginning of a run.And maybe we shouldn't have written them off so soon.Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPSharks.
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