Run opportunities could be there vs. Colts

Adrian Peterson had 100 yards against in the season opener, and the opportunities could be there for bigger things Sunday against a Colts defense that struggled to stop a rookie running back in Week One.

Keep improving.

That’s what the Indianapolis Colts are going to have to do, especially on defense, heading into Sunday’s road trip to Minnesota.

Indianapolis failed to stop Chicago rookie Matt Forte in the Colts’ 29-13 loss to the Bears Sunday night. Their task will get a lot tougher this week with the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson.

“It was definitely disappointing (the loss to Chicago),” Colts safety Bob Sanders said. “We’ve got a lot to improve on and we’ve got to do it quick. We can’t wait. The season moves fast and (we’ve) definitely got to correct our mistakes and not let them happen again.”

Indianapolis’ defense has struggled in stopping the run in recent years, but there has been a sharp improvement in that category over the last two seasons. But not so in the Chicago game.

“Our defense, that’s what we pride ourselves on is stopping the run. And being great in (stopping) the run. When you come into a game like (Chicago), you prepare so well during the week and you want to stop the run. You want to force a team to be one dimensional,” Sanders said.

“When they have two options, when they’re running the ball and they’re throwing the ball, it’s tough. I think we need to just come back and figure out what we need to get corrected and just be ready to go next week.”

The Colts face Peterson this week and will then will return home to face Jacksonville’s duo of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.

“(If we don’t get the mistakes corrected) it’ll be the same results. We’ve got some tough, tough opponents coming up. And we’ve got to be ready,” he added. “There are no excuses, no explanations. We’ve got to do our jobs and do it well and do it like we’re supposed to.”

NOTES

WR Marvin Harrison climbed to fourth in NFL career receiving yards, surpassing James Lofton’s 14,004. Harrison eclipsed Lofton on a 14-yard pass in the third quarter of the Chicago game, and finished with 76 yards on eight catches. He now has 14,096 career receiving yards.

DE Dwight Freeney had a sack in his first game back from last season’s foot surgery. He wrapped up Bears QB Kyle Orton for an 8-yard loss just before halftime of the Chicago game.

C Jeff Saturday (knee) may start practicing sooner than anyone expected. Saturday has been sidelined since he suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee late in the Colts’ Aug. 24 preseason game with the Buffalo Bills. It was thought at the time of the injury that he might miss up to six weeks if he opted not to have surgery. No timetable is in place for Saturday’s return for practice.

TE Dallas Clark (knee) was hurt in the first half of Sunday night’s season opener with the Chicago Bears. There is no update on his status for this week’s road game at Minnesota. His availability for the Vikings’ contest probably won’t be known until later in the week.

RB Joseph Addai incurred a blow to the head early in the fourth quarter of the Chicago game. Addai was cleared to return but was held out as a precautionary measure. He is expected to start this week’s road game at Minnesota.

CB Kelvin Hayden was poked in the eye in the first half of the Bears game but was able to return to the game. Hayden played the remainder of the contest and didn’t have any problems afterwards.

OG Mike Pollak (knee) has not returned to practice after he was hurt during workouts a couple of weeks ago. His return could be in the next week or so.

“They did an excellent job knowing what we were in and picking out plays. We have a long season, but we have to kick it into gear.” — S Bob Sanders on the Colts’ defensive effort against the Bears.

“I felt OK. I don’t really have a percentage of how I felt, but I really felt OK during the game physically. It kind of went about like I thought. I knew it would take me a little time to get into a rhythm after not playing. I felt like I was starting to get into it at the start of the second half. I felt we sort of were getting the timing of things, had a little rhythm going there, a good drive. The second half - with the safety and the turnover, fumble for a touchdown and the turnover on downs - that sort of took any rhythm we had offensively away. So it was disappointing. I thought we had a little bit of something going there at the beginning of the half with the touchdown. Our defense did a good job of really holding them. I felt like the offense gave them their last three scores - the safety, the touchdown and the turnover on downs.” — QB Peyton Manning on his first game back after missing training camp and the preseason due to knee surgery.

The Colts’ loss to Chicago Sunday night marked their second season-opening loss in the eight years that Tony Dungy has been the team’s head coach. It also snapped a 21-game September winning streak dating back to the 2004 season.