Carson Wentz Trade Officially a Total Failure For the Colts

Carson Wentz was at his absolute worst when the Indianapolis Colts needed him the most. All the Colts had to do on Sunday was beat the worst team in the NFL and they would have been in the playoffs. But Wentz flopped against the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 26-11 loss and now his team is on vacation. It's fair to say the Colts' trade for Wentz has been a complete failure.

On Sunday, against a terrible team, Wentz had his worst game of the season. He completed 17 of 29 passes for 185 yards, averaged 6.4 yards per attempt, and had one touchdown and an interception. His passer rating for the game was 74.6 and his QBR was a season-low 4.4. No, that's not a typo, his QBR was 4.4. As ESPN's Paul Hembekides pointed out, that's not good.

That followed a Week 17 home game against the Las Vegas Raiders where Wentz completed 16 of 27 passes for 148 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. He averaged only 5.5 yards per attempt and posted a passer rating of 86.6 and a QBR of 28.7. The Colts lost 23-20. If they had beaten either the Raiders or the Jaguars, they would have made the playoffs. Instead, they're sitting at home.

With Philip Rivers retired, the Colts made a bold move in the offseason to acquire Wentz from the Philadelphia Eagles. Indianapolis sent a 2021 third-round pick and a conditional 2022 second-rounder to the Eagles while taking on the four years and $103 million remaining on his contract. Well, that second-rounder has since become a first-rounder because Wentz played 75 percent of the Colts' offensive snaps, so Indianapolis has lost the 16th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The Eagles used the 2021 third-rounder they got from the Colts in combination with their own first-rounder to move up in the draft and select wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who was excellent as a rookie. Now they'll have two first-rounders in 2022. Oh, and the guy who replaced Wentz, Jalen Hurts, led Philadelphia to the playoffs and looks like the franchise's future.

The Colts, on the other hand, don't have a first-rounder in 2022 to help patch their holes and they're stuck with Wentz for at least another season.

Some of Wentz's numbers look decent this season, but it feels cosmetic at best. He only completed 62.4 percent of his passes, which ranks 25th among quarterbacks who qualified. He had 3,563 yards, but ranked 22nd in yards per attempt (6.9). He had 27 touchdowns against seven interceptions, and posted a passer rating of 94.6, which ranked 13th in the league. His QBR for the season was 54.4 which ranked 10th. Some of those numbers are terrible, some are decent, but none of them point to an elite quarterback who should be pulling in the money he is.

Regardless of what you think of Wentz's ability, he fell apart when the Colts needed him the most. In back-to-back must-win games to finish the season he was brutally bad. Had he even been average in either contest, Indianapolis would be in the postseason. he couldn't even manage that.

The Colts' trade for Wentz is now, officially, a complete bust.