INDIANAPOLIS — The drought has reached a decade, and good luck trying to make sense of it. “I don’t have a great answer for you,’’ Shane Steichen said Sunday afternoon. His Indianapolis Colts had just seen an electric Joe Flacco-fueled fourth-quarter comeback negated by Cam Little’s right leg. The rookie kicker drilled a 49-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining, and the Jacksonville Jaguars were winless no more. Jaguars 37, Colts 34. That’s 10 straight road losses to the Jaguars, and nine have come in Jacksonville. Only the names have changed, and the road futility claimed yet another Colts’ starting quarterback — that’s eight during the streak — even though this one turned in one of the best games of a career that’s spanned 17 seasons and 190 games. Joe Flacco, 39 and the third-oldest quarterback to play for the Colts, started in place of an injured Anthony Richardson (oblique) and passed for 359 yards and touchdowns to wideout Alec Pierce (65 yards), tight end Mo Alie-Cox (18 yards) and receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (1 yard). “I did what I know,’’ Flacco said, who opened the game 9-for-9, finished 33-of-44 and compiled his best passer rating (121.3) since 2020. “It was one of those games that ends up being you want the ball last. “But hey, Shane said it to us in the locker room after the game, this is the NFL. You’re going to play games like this, and you’ve got to be able dig deep and find a way to win.’’ The Colts found a way to climb out of a 34-20 hole in the final five minutes, but the Flacco-to-Alec Pierce pyrotechnics — three catches for 134 yards, including a 65-yard TD, in less than 3 minutes — were reduced to statistical window dressing when the defense couldn’t come up with a stop when it absolutely had to get off the field. Flacco feathered a pass to Pierce on a deep crosser, and he ran away from safety Andre Cisco. The 65-yard TD with 2:40 remaining produced a 34-all tie. But an injury-depleted defense that had no answers throughout the game, had none with the game on the line. “They were the better team today,’’ conceded linebacker Zaire Franklin. “I can’t really attribute it to anything else. “We’ve got to make the plays we need to make.’’ Quarterback Trevor Lawrence needed eight plays and 2 minutes, 23 seconds to put Jacksonville in position for Little’s 49-yard dagger. The only third-down he faced was D’Ernest Johnson’s 1-yard gain when the Jaguars were getting in position for the winning kick. The Colts defense was without defensive end DeForest Buckner, cornerback Kenny Moore II, pass rusher Kwity Paye, defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis, defensive back JuJu Brents and defensive end Samson Ebukam, and a backup-laden unit was unable to mount anything resembling a pass rush. It was routinely gashed by Lawrence, who had lost his last nine starts. Lawrence passed for a career-high 371 yards — he had a total of 347 the last two weeks in losses at Houston and Buffalo — and two touchdowns while operating in a clean pocket. The Colts had zero sacks, zero quarterback hits and just two pressures, according to the CBS broadcast. Lawrence completed 28-of-34 (82%) after entering the game with a 53.3% completion rate. “We need to execute," Steichen said. "That’s the bottom line. It starts with myself. I’m the head coach. “You’ve got to get pressure on the quarterback. We know that. I have full faith we’ll get that done moving forward.’’ Unable to disrupt Lawrence, the defense was at his mercy. The Jaguars’ 497 yards were their most this season — by 174 yards — and the most since week 15 of 2022. The 497 yards and 37 points were low-water marks for a defense that entered the game as the NFL’s worst. The absence of too many top-end players and too many missed tackles contributed to the Jaguars averaging 8.7 yards per play and generating a slew of explosive plays. Four covered at least 28 yards. Lawrence hooked up with wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. for an 85-yard TD midway through the second quarter when Thomas ran past cornerback Dallis Flower.  After kicker Matt Gay brought the Colts to within 27-20 with 6 minutes to play, running back Tank Bigsby cut inside end Laiatu Latu and linebacker E.J. Speed and stepped out of defensive back Julian Blackmon’s tackle en route to a 65-yard TD and a 34-20 lead. Too many explosive plays allowed, no pressure on Lawrence and the inability to sustain a run game without Jonathan Taylor proved to be a debilitating combination. Also, special teams allowed Devin Duvernay to get loose for a 53-yard punt return that set up Bigsby’s 19-yard TD in the third quarter. Steichen singled out the shock plays. The Colts yielded three plays of at least 60 yards, including the long-distance TDs by Thomas and Bigsby. As bad as it’s been, the defense hadn’t allowed a play longer than 55 yards and just three over 40 in the first four games. “Overall, the game came down to real explosive plays,’’ Steichen said. “We had some on offense. Obviously, they had some, too. “It was a back-and-forth shootout at the end.’’ The fourth quarter was Flacco at his best. He directed the Colts to 24 points, their most in a fourth quarter since they had 28 in the 38-35 win at Tampa Bay in 2003. Flacco completed 7-of-9 passes for 183 yards, touchdowns to Alie-Cox and Pierce and a 158.3 rating, the highest possible. “He did great,’’ Steichen said. “He came out and operated at a high level and hit the big plays when we needed them, especially at the end.’’ The loss snapped the Colts’ modest win streak at two and dropped them to 2-3. Three of their next four are on the road, beginning with Sunday’s trip to Nashville for the first of two meetings with the Tennessee Titans. Fries out The injuries continued to mount. Right guard Will Fries suffered a fractured right tibia in the third quarter. He was rolled up on from behind at the end of a 1-yard run by Trey Sermon. Fries remained on the ground as the medical staff tended to him and his teammates surrounded him. An air cast was placed on his right leg, and he was taken to the locker room on a cart, pumping his left arm in the air as the cart headed into the tunnel.  Fries was taken to a Jacksonville hospital for surgery Sunday night. “Prayers and thoughts go out to him and his family,’’ Steichen said. Undrafted rookie Dalton Tucker replaced Fries. Individually, the injury comes at a bad time. The 2021 seventh-round pick becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Fries has started 31 games the last three seasons and seldom came off the field the past two. He handled 98% of the snaps in 2023 and had not missed a snap this season until the injury. Richardson not ready Richardson was doubtful prior to the game with the oblique injury, and it was no surprise when the Colts decided to turn to Flacco even though Richardson was put through a pregame workout. “I didn’t want to put him out there, in harm’s way on certain things,’’ Steichen said. “Joe went out there and had a good game.’’ You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.