INDIANAPOLIS - Since drafting Peyton Manning in 1998 and then Andrew Luck in 2012, the Indianapolis Colts have had good fortune and good planning when it comes to the most important position on the field.

Even after the Colts surprisingly lost their franchise quarterback on Aug. 24 when Luck stunned the NFL world with his retirement, they still believed they were set.

General manager Chris Ballard, one of Jacoby Brissett’s biggest supporters since Ballard acquired him a week before the start of the regular season in 2017, showed his belief in the quarterback when he gave Brissett a two-year contract extension on Sept. 2.

But questions about Brissett’s ability to be a franchise quarterback have risen as the season has progressed, as each errant throw sailed over the head or behind intended targets.

Top quarterbacks don’t make those types of mistakes too often. A top quarterback isn’t 24th in the league in passing yards, 30th in passing yards a game or hovering near No. 20 in completion percentage and touchdown passes. Brissett is.

Brissett’s latest mishaps occurred Monday night in a 34-7 loss on national television against the New Orleans Saints. He finished 18-of-34 for 165 yards and no touchdowns, and several throws were impossible for the intended target to catch.

“We just were not in sync on offense,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “Jacoby’s the quarterback, so he’s always going to be the center of attention. But trust me, there was enough to go around there for everybody.”

“I missed a couple of throws,” Brissett said. “I couldn’t get into a rhythm. It starts with me and playing better. It’s a trickle-down [effect].”

Brissett has regressed amid a four-game losing streak that eliminated the Colts from the playoff race. The passing game was a complementary piece to the running game when the Colts opened the season 5-2. Brissett threw for 1,590 yards and completed 64.5% of his pass attempts through the first eight weeks of the season. In the past six games, he's thrown for 1,071 yards and completed just 59.1% of his attempts.

Brissett missed about six quarters because of a knee injury suffered against Pittsburgh on Nov. 3. His completion percentage is 58.5 since he returned for the Nov. 17 game against Jacksonville, which was the last game the Colts won. Brissett said his knee injury hasn’t impacted his play. Reich said there hasn’t been any indication that Brissett’s knee is bothering him.

“I think there’s a lot of factors when it comes to quarterback play,” Reich said. “I have firsthand experience with that. I know the quarterback gets too much credit when things go well and know he gets too much blame when things don’t go well. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get a lot of praise and that doesn’t mean he’s not responsible for his own individual play and misplays, and Jacoby had a couple of those [against the Saints].”

Despite Brissett’s recent struggles, Reich reiterated that the Colts will stick with Brissett as their starter in the final two games of the season. He is signed through 2020, with a cap figure of $21 million next season but no dead-cap money, so the Colts could cut Brissett with no salary-cap penalty. But that’s unlikely as they still believe in his potential and want him to get as many snaps as possible.

“Jacoby is our quarterback,” Reich said. “We’re still fighting to get better. Jacoby is a second-year starter and he’s done a lot of good things this year. We have two games [remaining]. That’s really an opportunity for him to work to get better.”

Brissett has had to try to lead the offense without receivers T.Y. Hilton, Parris Campbell, Devin Funchess, tight end Eric Ebron and running back Marlon Mack for parts of the season while they were out with injuries.

But Reich isn’t giving Brissett a free pass based on injuries and a running game that hasn’t been as productive in the past couple of weeks. Brissett, 27, has shown potential, such as when he threw for 319 yards against Tennessee on Dec. 1 even though the Colts had just three healthy receivers by the end of the game.

“We got off to that hot start at 5-2 and everything was great,” Reich said. “Then we started losing a couple [games] and they started mounting up and I can feel his growth as a leader, as a person. Just handling the adversity of being the guy and having to take responsibility for that. I really sense that from him. The growth and maturity. He has the character to back that up. That’s not easy to do. He has the character and substance to him that he can handle it. It’s still a process going forward.”