INDIANAPOLIS – DeForest Buckner will complete his fifth season with the Indianapolis Colts this week in a low-stakes game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Despite playing at a Pro Bowl level throughout his tenure and being a leader on and off the field, Buckner’s been part of just one playoff appearance, no division titles and no postseason wins.

He re-signed with the franchise in the offseason because he believed – and still does – the pieces are in place to turn those numbers around.

But Sunday’s inexplicable 45-33 loss against the struggling New York Giants (3-13) eliminated the Colts (7-9) from playoff contention for the fourth straight season and raised serious concerns about the direction of the franchise.

Former players Pat McAfee, T.Y. Hilton and Marlin Jackson are among those who publicly questioned the locker room culture and leadership of a team that hasn’t had double-digit wins in a season since 2020 and hasn’t won the AFC South in a decade.

Buckner took accountability for Indianapolis’ failures during a video conference call with local media Monday, but he’s not second-guessing his decision to tie his fortunes to the franchise.

“I don’t have any regrets,” Buckner said of signing an extension that will keep him with the Colts through the 2026 campaign. “I have full belief in a lot of the guys in this locker room, and just it – I mean, we came up short.

“I mean, we – I’m going to be honest, as the entire team, we (expletive) the bed another year, and it’s frustrating. Like I’ve been saying, I could see what we have. It’s just we’re not getting over that hump. I just feel like it’s little details that we’re missing that’s hurting us.”

Indianapolis has lost a late-season game in three of the last four seasons with playoff implications. Two of those eliminations came at the hands of teams holding the No. 1 overall pick for the upcoming draft at the time of kickoff – with the Giants joining the 2021 Jaguars in that particular spoiler role.

The fallow stretch includes three different head coaches and seven different starting quarterbacks.

The lone constants are frustration and under achievement.

“I think the standard is come to work every day and give it everything you’ve got,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said Monday. “I talked about character, preparation, consistency and relentless. I think when you’re not winning, and you don’t reach the playoffs like you want to, I think, obviously, things are going to get nitpicked, and rightfully so.

“Everyone wants to be in the playoffs every year, and that’s the standard is to get into the playoffs, and we didn’t reach our goal this year. That’s the disappointing part about this whole thing, but we’ve got one week left to go out and do our jobs.”

Steichen was asked directly about accusations from McAfee that players being late to meetings and missing training sessions are among the off-field problems plaguing the franchise as it attempts to return to its former glory.

An indirect follow-up tied in complaints from other former players with postseason success on their resumes who question why the current crop can’t seem to get over the hump.

Steichen didn’t deny some issues need to be addressed.

“I think with any team, not everyone is going to be on time every time, but there is accountability, and guys are held to a standard, and that is talked about in house,” he said. “I don’t think that — with anything, I think Pat, he’s a former player that wants to see the Colts do well just like all our fans want.

“You want us to do well, and when the standard isn’t – not getting into playoffs, it’s frustrating. So it’s frustrating for a lot of people, myself included, and that’s why we talk about the standard just being raised so we’re not in these situations.”

The biggest questions remaining have little to do with the season finale against Jacksonville.

General manager Chris Ballard is under heavy criticism with an eight-year tenure that has included just two playoff appearances and one postseason win.

Steichen is taking heat for a second-season collapse that has included embarrassments on and off the field.

And the roster could undergo significant change after suffering a second losing season in three years.

Only owner Jim Irsay knows for sure which direction he’s leaning toward as offseason changes loom, and he’s not speaking for public consumption.

But the players understand the consequences for failure in the NFL.

Buckner has faith in everyone in the locker room and the coaches leading them, but he doesn’t try to duck the players’ share of the blame.

“It was definitely on us,” he said. “… I mean, just big moments where we fell short. We shot ourselves in the foot multiple times throughout the season. Just obviously a lot more downs than ups, and that’s fully on us. That’s the most frustrating part about it.

“I mean like being in – especially early on, in a lot of games, one-score games, that were lost in moments where if we just make one or two plays, I mean, we come out with a W. But we didn’t. That’s just the frustrating part about the whole entire season.”