INDIANAPOLIS – Anthony Richardson didn’t betray any frustration through his words or facial expressions Sunday during his postgame interview.

But the Indianapolis Colts quarterback still made it clear he fully felt the pain of a missed opportunity.

The Colts often were their own worst enemy against one of the league’s best teams in a 24-6 loss against the Detroit Lions at Lucas Oil Stadium.

It’s the fourth loss in the last five outings for Indianapolis (5-7), again increasing the degree of difficulty for a desired playoff push.

“Whenever you’re out there playing a good team like that, you can’t beat yourself and try to beat the other team at the same time,” Richardson said.

The Colts were penalized 10 times for 75 yards and had 97 yards of total offense negated by those infractions. That created adverse downs and distances that hindered Indianapolis’ efforts to get the running game flowing.

Richardson was the team’s leading rusher with 61 yards on 10 carries, but star running back Jonathan Taylor ran just 11 times for 35 yards.

It was the second straight week in which the Colts failed to rush for at least 100 yards – a number that was reached in each of Richardson’s first six starts this season.

“I think we had some good runs today, especially in the first half, and AR has done a great job passing the ball,” left guard Quenton Nelson said. “We just need to execute up front, blocking whatever the play is called and also limit the penalties myself.”

Nelson was flagged three times – once for a false start, once for illegal use of hands and once for being an ineligible receiver down field.

It was part of a sloppy performance that was far below expectations in Week 12, and it made things much easier on an excellent Detroit team that doesn’t need the help.

Indianapolis’ struggles included a 3-for-12 performance on third down, a dropped touchdown pass in the second quarter by tight end Drew Ogletree and two red-zone trips that ended with just a pair of Matt Gay field goals.

“We had some opportunities there, weren’t able to take advantage,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said. “Obviously, offensively, got down in the red zone a few times, had to settle for two field goals there in the first half. Penalties hurt us. It starts with myself. We have to get those cleaned up.

“We had a season-high 10 penalties, I believe, for 75 yards. That’s on me. We can’t have that. We’ve got to play clean football moving forward.”

The Lions (10-1) responded with cool efficiency to keep the hosts at arm’s length.

Detroit came in averaging 33.6 points per game, and quarterback Jared Goff has 20 touchdown passes. But the Lions needed just a pair of touchdown runs by Jahmyr Gibbs and another by David Montgomery along with a 56-yard field goal by Jake Bates to put this game on ice.

Gibbs’ 1-yard scoring plunge gave Detroit a 7-3 lead with 12:07 remaining in the first half, and Montgomery extended the advantage to 14-6 with 3:34 left before intermission. By the time Gibbs’ 5-yard touchdown made it 21-6 with 2:19 left in the third quarter, it was obvious the Lions had all the offense they needed.

Goff was 26-of-36 for 269 yards without a touchdown or interception, and Gibbs rushed 21 times for 90 yards.

Meanwhile, Richardson wasn’t able to match the statistical aesthetic of his breakout game last week against the New York Jets – though he played better than the numbers suggest.

Richardson finished 11-of-28 for 172 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He had 74 yards wiped out on four completions called back because of penalties, and a wonderfully placed long ball to Ashton Dulin ended in an incompletion when the wide receiver couldn’t get his second foot inbounds.

Richardson had his share of misses, including an overthrow against a heavy rush that could have been another big play to wide receiver Alec Pierce and a close-call to wide receiver Josh Downs in the end zone in the fourth quarter.

But the 22-year-old deftly moved around in and out of the pocket and kept himself a step ahead of the Detroit defense. The Lions recorded six quarterback hits but no sacks.

“It was a lot of completions, a lot of good balls that he threw that kind of got pulled back (by penalties),” Pierce said. “So I’m sure his stats are not really reflecting truly how he played, how he threw the ball.”

Michael Pittman Jr. had his best game of the season with six catches for 96 yards, but little else stood out offensively.

The defense tallied three sacks, and rookie defensive end Laiatu Latu forced a third-quarter fumble that could have given Indianapolis the ball in Lions’ territory, but the offense recovered and finished the march to the clinching touchdown.

With a little more than a month remaining in the regular season, Indianapolis understands the margin for error is dwindling.

“We just got to execute,” Richardson said. “We know that was a great team right there, but they didn’t really do anything spectacular to beat us. They played the game the right way, and we didn’t go out and execute the way we know that we’re supposed to. We got behind the sticks a few times.

“We let them throw a few penalties against us because of (breakdowns in) our discipline and our details. But we just gotta keep playing. Play complementary football, keep the details detailed and keep trusting the process and just buy in and try to find a way to win.”