luckadjusted

Week 3 2024 · September 22, 2024

Bears at Colts, Week 3 2024: who deserved to win?

The Colts beat the Bears 21–16 and were the better team on the day: replayed with the same form, they win 7 of 10. The Bears had the bounces: judgment calls alone were worth 5.2 points to the Bears.

Before kickoff the Colts were 54% favorites. The biggest swing (Q2, 11:07 left): the Colts were stopped on 3rd & 3, worth 17 points of win probability to the Bears.

Final

Chicago Bears 16
Indianapolis Colts 21

September 22, 2024 · Lucas Oil Stadium · Closing line: Colts −1.5

Luck index +30 Colts lucky · −30 Bears

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Bears win 3, Colts win 7.

  1. 1 CHI 41 IND 21
  2. 2 CHI 30 IND 20
  3. 3 CHI 16 IND 13
  4. 4 CHI 19 IND 20
  5. 5 CHI 24 IND 27
  6. 6 CHI 10 IND 17
  7. 7 CHI 21 IND 31
  8. 8 CHI 20 IND 34
  9. 9 CHI 10 IND 28
  10. 10 CHI 7 IND 34

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Bears win 30% of them, Colts 70%, counting the 4% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Colts by 5.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Bears by 17+4.3%
Bears by 9–168.6%
Bears by 1–815.1%
Level after regulation3.7%
Colts by 1–824.8%
Colts by 9–1619.9%
Colts by 17+23.5%

Where the luck was

Take the luck out

The final margin was Colts by 5. Remove the luck, one kind at a time, and it becomes Colts by 14.6.

Each row takes one kind of luck out of the margin. Color shows which team it helped. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each component is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • C. Santos, 56 yds missed · 67% expected
  • C. Santos, 53 yds made · 71% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

When it happened

Colts’ chance of winning

As low as 46% and as high as 100%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Colts were ahead in it, below while the Bears were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 9:38 C. Santos missed 56-yard field goalKicks · 67% expected for him, 31 of 42 from 45+ before +9% IND CHI: Punt
2 Q2 13:02 The Colts converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 26% expected +13% IND IND: Turnover
3 Q2 11:07 The Colts were stopped on 3rd & 33rd & 4th downs · 42% expectedThe Colts threw an interception-worthy pass, and it was pickedInterceptions · 48% expected to stay out of the defense's hands +17% CHI IND: Touchdown
4 Q2 9:41 The Bears were stopped on 3rd & 43rd & 4th downs · 43% expectedThe Bears threw an interception-worthy pass, and it was pickedInterceptions · 49% expected to stay out of the defense's hands +17% IND CHI: Turnover on downs
5 Q2 1:46 The Bears were stopped on 4th & 13rd & 4th downs · 64% expected +10% IND CHI: End of half
6 Q2 0:31 Offensive Holding on the Bears, 10 yards, wiping out the playJudgment calls +8% IND IND: Turnover
7 Q3 10:05 Roughing the Kicker on the Colts, 15 yards, wiping out the playJudgment calls +8% CHI CHI: Turnover
8 Q3 7:30 The Colts were stopped on 4th & 33rd & 4th downs · 49% expected +9% CHI IND: Touchdown

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • DeForest Buckner (IND DT), out (IR) · 0.6 pts
  • Blake Freeland (IND T), out · 0.5 pts
  • Samson Ebukam (IND DE), out (IR) · 0.4 pts
  • Julius Brents (IND CB), out (IR) · 0.4 pts
  • Patrick Scales (CHI LS), out (IR) · 0.1 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Bears 3% · Colts 97%

Final margin
Colts by 5
Luck in points
9.6 for the Bears
Luck-adjusted margin
Colts by 14.6
Replay with same day's form
Bears 30% · Colts 70% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 3 2024 games · Bears · Colts

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