Nick Foles will start for the Indianapolis Colts against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday as Matt Ryan is benched for a second time this season.

Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Ryan led the Colts through the first seven games, but was demoted after the 19-10 defeat to the Tennessee Titans in October with the team 3-3-1.

Sam Ehlinger started in his place but lost both games before Ryan was given the nod for the 25-20 road victory over the Oakland Raiders in Week 10, the first game under new head coach Jeff Saturday after Frank Reich was fired.

Indianapolis have gone 0-4 since that win though, including a stunning 39-36 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday having led 33-0 at half-time.

The second-half collapse was the biggest in NFL history, with the Vikings scoring 29 unanswered points from 36-7 down to send the game to overtime, before Greg Joseph kicked a field goal to condemn the Colts to a dramatic loss.

That is likely to be Ryan's final game of the season and potentially his time in Indianapolis is over,

Foles won Super Bowl LII with the Philadelphia Eagles, toppling Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl MVP-winning performance.

He has played for the Colts' AFC South rival Jacksonville Jaguars since then as well as the Chicago Bears, and gets another chance to start at the age of 33.

With Indianapolis 4-9-1 and likely to be officially ruled out of playoff contention this weekend, Saturday believes the change at quarterback is necessary.

"It's never an easy decision," Saturday told reporters. "[I] think the world of Matt, he’s a pro’s pro.

"It's not been the season he expected, nor the Colts as a whole.

"[I] just didn't feel we made enough plays offensively. This is not all on Matt.

"Ultimately I feel like Nick will give us a better chance to go win these last three games."

Nick Foles made it clear he has not had any talks with Frank Reich about a trade to the Indianapolis Colts, but he sounded distinctly like a man making his pitch for such a move on Monday.

The Colts are in a perilous situation at quarterback after Reich confirmed Carson Wentz, whom they traded for in the offseason to be their starter, would undergo foot surgery and miss five to 12 weeks.

Wentz is therefore in danger of missing the opening two months of the 2021 season, leaving the Colts facing up to the prospect of starting Jacob Eason, a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft, under center.

Reich was the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator when Wentz was in the MVP conversation in 2017 before he suffered a season-ending injury and was replaced by Foles, who spectacularly guided the Eagles to Super Bowl glory.

It was hoped the reunion between Reich and Wentz could revive the latter's career after his dismal final season with the Eagles but his injury has led to talk of the Colts bringing Foles, now the third-string quarterback with the Chicago Bears, into the mix.

Asked about that possibility, Foles told a media conference: "Frank Reich is one of my favourite if not favourite coaches of all time, he understands me as a player, he understands me as a person.

"I haven't had any talks with him. I'm a Chicago Bear right now. You all watched the 2017 season in the playoffs where he changed the offense and built it around me and y'all saw what happened, he understood my mentality as a player and he was able to build it around me and put me in a successful position.

"That being said they have Carson, and Carson and I have a lot of history. I have a lot of respect for Carson, he's a tremendous player, he's going through adversity once again but he'll bounce back. He might miss a few games but I know he'll be back out there, but we haven't had any talks.

"Right now I'm a Chicago Bear and I'm going to keep slinging it with these third-stringers and we're going to dice 'em up."

On talks with other teams, Foles added: "There was a couple of opportunities that came to me this offseason with a couple of teams but it wasn't the right time.

"It wasn't the right time or the situation with what was going on in my life. You don't just want to go somewhere to go somewhere, you want to go somewhere where you know the people somewhat or you know someone who knows the people that can vouch for the people so you can succeed.

"Listen, I feel great. The version of me right now is much better than the version of me that played in the Super Bowl, I'll tell you that and I'm confident in that, so put that through your mind, I know that.

"I know what this game's about, you have to have the whole package as a team, you have to have everyone in there. Top-down has to be great, if it's not great you're going to be mediocre. I've seen it and I've been a part of it, and unfortunately when you're a quarterback you've got to go through a lot of the baloney.

"That's part of it, that's why we play this position because at the end of the day there might be some kid that's watching this press conference and they say Nick Foles is a three quarterback and he's going out there and his mentality is to dice up that defense and help his team-mates and that's what I will continue to do until I lace up the cleats for the last time."

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.