INDIANAPOLIS — Sometimes, your mind insists on taking you back to a different time. As we were digesting the Indianapolis Colts’ 23-20 loss to the Texans Sunday afternoon in Houston, we had one of those flashbacks. Week 11 of 2001. Jim Mora was tired of the weekly abuse aimed at Vic Fangio, his defensive coordinator. His Colts had just been overwhelmed by the San Francisco 49ers, 40-21, and the colorful/defiant head coach wasn’t waiting for anyone in the media to point an accusatory finger at his long-time friend. “Don’t blame that on the defense,’’ Mora said, spitting out the words. His quarterback — Peyton Manning — had just suffered four interceptions, including one of his six pick-6s that season. That was a precursor to one of the all-time great Mora-isms. You remember his Playoffs?!? rant, right? At the risk of stealing Mora’s legendary line: Don’t blame Sunday’s loss on the defense. Just don’t. “The defense (was) playing balls to the wall, man,’’ quarterback Anthony Richardson said. “They’ve been doing their thing.’’ Blame a very winnable game — the Colts are the only team in the NFL to have each of its games be decided by one possession — on an inefficient offense and its very inefficient quarterback. That would be Richardson, who opened himself up to major criticism late in the third quarter by pulling himself out of the game for one play (more on that later). The future of the franchise is mired in an erratic present, and Sunday might have been the low point. Did we mention he essentially “tapped out’’ for one play? Those growing pains everyone has expected in Richardson’s second year reached a new level of intensity, and he understood the criticism that was coming. “Man, you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt because people are going to say it’s my fault,’’ he said. “I definitely could have played better today.’’ No argument. Richardson completed 10-of-32 passes (31.3%) for 175 yards with a 69-yard touchdown to wideout Josh Downs and an absolute killer of an interception at the end of an absolutely awful first half (2-of-15) that gifted the Texans a touchdown and a 17-10 halftime lead. The Colts lost by 3, so you do the math. Richardson’s completion percentage was the worst by a Colts’ quarterback since rookie Jeff George went 6-of-24 (25%) in a 13-10 win over New England in 1990. It’s just the fourth time in the Indy era and the 16th time in club history a quarterback completed less than 32% of his passes. “I definitely could have delivered the ball better,’’ Richardson said. “I definitely could have made some better checks. “I could have played better. I definitely understand that. Even when we play well and we win the game, they’re going to say, ‘AR was the main reason we won.’ “You’ve just got to be able to take both sides of it, the wins and the losses. I’m just steadily trying to grow and just keep getting better.’’ Debating Richardson’s growth — Sunday was just his 10th start — would be a lively endeavor. On the season, he’s completing a league-worst 44.4% of his passes. He’s completed 10 passes or fewer in four of the five games he’s finished. Colts coach Shane Steichen again shouldered some of the blame for an offense that featured a 100-yard rusher (Jonathan Taylor, 105 yards on 20 attempts) and 100-yard receiver (Downs, 109 on four catches), but got little done elsewhere. The Colts finished with 303 yards on 63 plays and converted 2-of-13 times on third down after starting 0-of-9. “Disappointed really more than anything,’’ Steichen said of the offense. “... third down wasn’t great. We were stalling there a lot.’’ On third down, Richardson was 2-of-9 for 35 yards with the forced pass to Downs that safety Jalen Pitre intercepted. That’s a passer rating of 3.7. He was sacked twice while trying to move the chains. “I’ve got to be better for the guys,’’ Steichen continued. Steichen steadfastly supported Richardson. “We keep working through the process,’’ Steichen said. “It’s a process. We keep grinding through it. We do it together. “It’s a team game. We grind through those things and we get it figured out.’’ Richardson raised eyebrows late in the third quarter. After facing heavy pressure from the Texans and eventually being sacked by linebacker Jake Hansen for no loss, Richardson got to his feet and tapped his helmet. He needed a quick break. Joe Flacco replaced him for one play — third-and-23 — before Matt Gay knocked down a 37-yard field goal. “He needed a breather,’’ Steichen said. “It was third-and-long, so we said we’re going to hand the ball off.’’ Richardson’s explanation: “Tired. I ain’t going to lie. That was a lot of running right there that I did, and I didn’t think I was going to be able to do that next play.’’ It was a bad look for Richardson in a bad game by Richardson. Much of the postgame conversation focused on the lack of offensive execution, and the stats back that up. Pass protection that had yielded 10 sacks in seven games gave up a season-high five along with four more QB hits. Houston had six tackles for loss and contributed to Richardson’s misguided afternoon with 10 passes defensed. A few dropped passes compounded things. But the bottom line: The Colts wasted a solid performance from Gus Bradley’s defense. C.J. Stroud passed for 285 yards and one TD and Joe Mixon rushed 25 times for 102 yards, but his group essentially held Houston to one TD and three field goals. Stroud’s 7-yard TD to Tank Dell at the end of the first half was all on Richardson. Facing third-and-2 at his own 12-yard line with 34 seconds remaining, Richardson was expecting a different look from the Texans. “I killed the play, I checked it,’’ Richardson said. “And they just played good zone right there, so (Downs) was pretty much my only target right there. “I thought I was able to fit it in there, but the nickel did a great job of jumping under it.’’ And twice in the fourth quarter, the defense gave the offense a chance to mount a comeback. With Houston facing a second-and-goal at the Indy 8-yard line with three minutes remaining, Dayo Odeyingbo blew up a high pitch from Stroud to Mixon. He forced a fumble and recovered it. Odeyingbo returned it 82 yards for a TD, but a review showed Mixon had touched him down. With 1 minute to play, the defense forced a punt. The offense had one more shot, albeit a longshot: first-and-10 at the Indy 9-yard line with 54 seconds remaining and no timeouts. The Colts reached midfield and faced a second-and-10 with one second left before Danielle Hunter smothered Richardson for a sack/forced fumble. Just like that, the Colts saw their modest two-game winning streak snapped, and Houston (6-2) had a stranglehold on the AFC South. “I mean, it hurts,’’ Richardson said. “You don’t want to lose, especially not in the division, not in this league. You don’t want to lose. It hurts taking those Ls. “But you learn from them. It’s nothing but a lesson. We know what we’ve got to clean up. Execution has to be top tier for us. We’ve just got to play better.’’ Richardson insisted he’s seeing progress despite the unsightly numbers. “Yeah, for sure,’’ he said. “I feel like I’m trusting my teammates more, trusting the game, letting the game come to me.’’ And his inefficient passing? What gives him confidence he can improve that phase of his game? “Because I can play,’’ Richardson said. “I can play football. I’ve been doing it my whole life. I don’t necessarily look at numbers. They said (Michael) Vick didn’t have a great completion percentage his first couple of years and he’s probably one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever do it. “I just look at each play for itself because I don’t have the ability to control every single thing that happens on every single play. I can only control what I can control, and I’m just trying to do my part out there. “If my numbers are low, I’ve just got to pick them up, and I’ve just got to play better.’’ You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.