JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Blake Bortles era has begun in Jacksonville.

While Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was throwing for 370 yards and four touchdowns in a 44-17 rout of Jacksonville, Jaguars first-round pick Bortles finally saw some game action. It took head coach Gus Bradley all of 10 quarters to bench starter Chad Henne and insert the third pick in his past year’s draft.

Indianapolis scored on all six of its first-half possessions in racing to a 30-point lead with Luck being near-perfect. He completed 22 of 27 passes, including 13 in a row at one point.

On the other hand, Henne continued to be inept. In 30 possessions with Henne under center, the Jaguars scored one touchdown. Bradley benched Henne at halftime and inserted Bortles to start the third quarter.

Henne said afterward that the starting job now belongs to Bortles.

“Oh absolutely,” the seven-year veteran said. “He was drafted for this moment and I understood it from day one. We had to do some really good things at the beginning of the year to keep my job. I hope he plays really well and I’m really pulling for him. I’m going to be his biggest cheerleader on the sidelines.”

After the game, Bradley said Bortles would get the start next week against San Diego. Bortles finished Sunday’s game completing 14 of 24 passes for 223 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Henne was just 4 of 7 for 33 yards and led the Jaguars to just two first downs in the first half.

“I thought Blake did a nice job. He’s going to learn but he made some plays,” Bradley said. “He kept plays alive and he’s got really good instincts and made some really good decisions and some good throws. I just love his mindset, I love the strength that he has. He is a tough, hard-nosed competitor and he will attack.

“The team felt that part of it and I think it’s no coincidence that all of a sudden we blocked a little bit better, the receivers played a little bit better. (Blake) has a way to uplift people and uplift the team.”

Luck finished 31 of 39 for 370 yards. All of four of his touchdown passes were short completions of less than 10 yards. The scoring went to different receivers — Ahmad Bradshaw, Dwayne Allen, Coby Fleener and Hakeem Nicks.

What the Colts said:

“A lot of guys have to play football and the nice thing they realize no one person is going to catch 90 percent of the balls and the other 10 percent spread around. It was good to get everyone involved. Guys ran nice, crisp routes and did a great job when it was zone finding that hole. There was firm protection up front and that always helps. I think we had a good tempo in the first half, moving up and down, in what was fairly a muggy day.” — QB Andrew Luck talking about having nine receivers with at least two catches.

“I am proud of the guys … bouncing back after two disappointing losses and on a short week. It’s definitely pointing up. It was a great team win. Obviously the play of the quarterback was outstanding and the offensive line did a great job. The running backs ran extremely well. And the defense did a great job of pitching a shutout in the first half. I am very pleased to get on the board because it’s been a very, very long time. It’s a great locker room, a great feeling.” — Coach Chuck Pagano talking about the team effort in the win over Jacksonville.

What the Jaguars said:

“First of all I want to make this point known that Chad Henne is a first-class individual. I think how he handled this whole situation, he was in a challenging situation, but how he handled it, I cannot tell you how much respect and admiration I have for him as a person how he’s handled this. It’s truly top notch.” — Coach Gus Bradley talking about replacing Henne with Blake Bortles at halftime.

“That’s not really how our team is. Chad was our starter and I was sitting behind him. That’s the way we operate and there’s really no division in our locker room. Chad has been a really good mentor to me and has really helped me on the practice field. He has been a good friend outside of football and I look forward to continuing that relationship.” — QB Blake Bortles on if his teammates wanted him in the game at halftime.

What we learned about the Colts:

1. Indianapolis is the best 1-2 team in the league. The Colts are not that far removed from being 3-0, having lost late games to Denver and Philadelphia. If Sunday’s game is any indication, Indianapolis will dominate the division as it has done in recent years. Tennessee, Houston and the Jaguars are weak to mediocre teams and the Colts are on another level compared to the other three teams.

2. Indianapolis has a lot of offensive weapons, whether running the ball or moving it through the air. The Colts have a solid 1-2 running combo of Ahmad Bradshaw and Trent Richardson who combined for 122 yards on 23 carries against the Jaguars, a nice 5-plus yards per run. But the biggest Colts threat comes when Andrew Luck drops back to pass. Wide receivers, tight ends or someone out of the backfield, Luck doesn’t care who it is. He connected with six different receivers for either four or five catches each. And five of the six averaged better than 10 yards a catch.

–WR T.Y. Hilton led Indy with five catches for 80 yards including a long of 39 yards. But Hilton missed some time late in the game with an ankle injury. He’ll be evaluated Monday but coach Chuck Pagano didn’t think that the injury was too severe.

–QB Andrew Luck is special. He had a career day when he hit on 31 of 39 passes for 370 yards and four touchdowns, good for a rating of 140.4. It could have been even more. Luck hit 13 consecutive completions and saw the streak come to an end when Coby Fleener dropped a pass when he was all alone in the end zone late in the first half. It was one of Luck’s best efforts as a pro.

–LB D’Qwell Jackson roamed the field sideline to sideline in recording a game-best 10 solo tackles. Jackson was also credited with one of the four Colts sacks in the game when he sacked Jags QB Chad Henne. Jackson also delivered the hit on receiver Mike Brown late in the first half that forced a fumble and led to the Colts’ final touchdown of the half.

What we learned about the Jaguars:

1. The quarterback job now belongs to Blake Bortles. Even if Bortles struggles in the coming weeks, he’ll remain the Jaguars starter. Jacksonville had hoped that they wouldn’t have to make the change until Bortles had studied some more under Chad Henne, but Henne was so unproductive in the first half that coach Gus Bradley had no choice but to make the move. Now the Jaguars must move quickly to prepare Bortles for a tough assignment on the road next Sunday in San Diego.

2. The Jaguars’ defense is worse than anyone imagined. It’s still hard to fathom how Jacksonville held Philadelphia scoreless in the first half in the season opener. Since then, the Jaguars have been run over. In the 10 quarters since that first half, Jacksonville has allowed 119 points, all but seven of which were scored on the defense. That equates to 11.2 points per quarter that the defense has allowed, which figures out to 44 points a game.

–QB Blake Bortles is going to put up some offensive numbers. Against the same Colts’ defense that held Chad Henne to 33 passing yards in the first half, Bortles accounted for 223 yards through the air in just the second half. Stretched over a whole game, Bortles’ numbers would read 28 of 48 for 446 yards and four touchdowns. It isn’t likely he would have put similar numbers on the Colts in the first two quarters, but it’s an indication that the Jaguars’ offense will be better than when Henne was starting.

–The Jaguars are going to severely miss TE Marcedes Lewis, who is out for the next eight weeks due to a high ankle sprain. Without Lewis at tight end, the Jaguars had but one catch (from Marcel Jensen) for eight yards from their tight ends on Sunday. Starter Mickey Shuler was only targeted once and failed to make the catch.

–RB Toby Gerhart continues to be frustrated by the lack of running space. Gerhart had nine carries for 32 yards (3.6 per attempt). He came into the game with just 50 yards in 25 carries in the first two games. He has been battling a sore ankle that came in the season opener, but it has been a lack of holes by the men up front that has kept his numbers to a minimum thus far.