Bob Kravitz: Colts can look in a mirror and like what they see for first time in six weeks

Wait a minute: A Colts' victory that didn't require a fourth-quarter comeback? A Colts victory that didn't involve a quart of Maalox and a Xanax?

All week long, the Colts, who had lost three of their previous five games while stepping through the side door on the way to the playoffs, talked about lighting a match, producing some heat in the weeks leading up to the postseason. Mission accomplished in a 25-3 pleasure cruise over the hapless Houston Texans, who did everything but bring their golf clubs to Lucas Oil Stadium.

"I think we started a little fire," safety Antoine Bethea said. "We needed a game like this. This was huge for us. After not playing consistently for a while, we needed something like this. We knew we needed to get hot heading into the playoffs."

For the first time in a month and a half, the Colts can look in the mirror and truly like what they see. This was their first start-to-finish team win in a very long time. The game balls went to Darius Butler (two interceptions) and the great Robert Mathis (his fourth-quarter sack set the franchise season and career records), but it could have gone to any number of other Colts.

How about Mike McGlynn? Twice this year, he's started at center. Both times (at San Francisco and against Houston), the Colts not only ran the ball well but protected Andrew Luck better than they normally do. I asked Chuck Pagano after the game, "Do you have any inclination to keep McGlynn at center?" He tap-danced around the question. Then I mentioned it again as he walked off the podium, telling him, "All I know is, when McGlynn's at center, good things happen." He gritted his teeth, managed a wry smile and walked off without saying a thing.

We'll see what happens next, but it wouldn't hurt anybody's feelings if Samson Satele doesn't get his job back any time soon. (And the same with Darrius Heyward-Bey, who rarely saw the field and was forced to be the gunner on special teams when Sergio Brown went down with an injury.)

How about Griff Whalen?

Earlier this week, he was on the practice squad. Sunday, he was catching his first touchdown pass. Of course, it may come at a cost, as it always does with Colts receivers these days; he's scheduled to get an MRI Monday.

How about Xavier Nixon?

When guard Joe Reitz left the game with a concussion, Nixon stepped in and played passably well. This is a guy who is normally a tackle, never played guard in college or the pros, and got very few reps at guard during the week. (Tells you what they think of draftee Khaled Holmes, who can't find the field with a GPS.)

How about the entire defense, most notably Mathis?

They've been under the gun the last two months, and for very good reason. In the last seven weeks, they've averaged allowed 31.1 points per game, which isn't going to win games anywhere, anytime. Sunday, they wrecked the game for Case Keenum and interim head coach Wade Phillips. Butler had his two picks. Vontae Davis, who dealt most of the time with Andre Johnson (4 catches, 18 yards on 10 targets), had his best game in weeks. And the pass rush was relentless, sacking Keenum four times and pressuring him on countless other occasions.

Mathis is your Defensive Player of the Year. Period.

"Maybe years from now I'll be able to tell my grandkids that I played with Robert Mathis," Luck said.

How about Pep Hamilton?

The Colts offensive coordinator did something we've all been pining for the last few weeks: He spread things out, went shot gun, went to the no-huddle early, and the Colts moved up and down the field with relative alacrity. After 37 first-half possessions without a touchdown over six games, the Colts scored a TD on their first drive and were 5-for-5 on third-down conversions to open the afternoon.

How about Trent Richardson?

Sixty-four yards rushing hardly sounds like a breakout game — for Adrian Peterson, it's a quarter and a half — but given Richardson's struggles, it was a nice start. He had 102 yards from scrimmage. After the game, Richardson wore a broad smile you couldn't erase with a belt sander. These have been a tough couple of months for Richardson, but he stepped in for the injured Donald Brown and ran hard and, at times, very effectively.

If there was a blemish, it was this: The Colts left a lot of points on the field. Time after time, the defense and special teams (specifically Whalen) gave the Colts' offense prime field position. Too often, it resulted in field goals. After that 5-for-5 start in third-down conversions, they finished 0-for-their-last-10.

Of course, there's a caveat: They rolled the Texans, now losers of 12 straight games. Houston was awful, lifeless, and virtually quit on the game. Down three scores with nine minutes remaining, they continued to huddle, run the ball, bleed the clock.

And penalties? A week ago the Texans tied a franchise record with 14 penalties. This week, they brought in officials to practice in the hopes of turning that around. Then they came out Sunday and committed 14 once again. If they were an NBA team, they'd be accused of tanking.

At this point, the Texans are a get-well card for flailing football teams. Kansas City at Arrowhead next week will be a different story, to say the least.

"We don't need to stay where we are," Pagano told his team in the locker room. "We still control our own destiny. Let's keep going in this direction."

At least it was a start. At least there was a spark, if not an outright conflagration. At least they produced some heat heading into the last two weeks of the regular season. They needed a feel-good, get-well win.

This week, they can look again at the mirror, and like what they see.

Bob Kravitz is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Contact him at (317) 444-6643 or via email at bob.kravitz@indystar.com. You can also follow Bob on Twitter at @bkravitz.