JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars hoped the bye would give rookie quarterback Blake Bortles a chance to refocus his game.

Instead, he played what may have been his worst game of the season in a 23-3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts Sunday.

The Jaguars tried to run the ball because New England’s Jonas Gray gained 201 yards against the Colts defense a week ago.

The Colts trumped that by stacking the defense against the run. They held Denard Robinson to 25 yards on 14 carries and he also had a fumble for the second game in a row.

The Colts figured Bortles couldn’t beat him with his arm. And they were right.

He threw only 10 passes in the first half but his first one was thrown behind Marcedes Lewis and was intercepted. His second was dropped by Toby Gerhart. His third was deflected at the line of scrimmage.

In the third quarter, he simply dropped the ball and lost six yards.

He wound up completing 15 of 27 passes for 146 yards, was sacked four times and had a quarterback rating of 55.5.

His quarterback rating of 70.8 is second worst in the league to Geno Smith of the Jets, who’s been benched at 65.6. Two other rookie quarterbacks, Derek Carr of Oakland and Teddy Bridgewater, are just above him at 76.7 and 75.7 but Carr has thrown 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions and Bridgewater is six and seven, respectively.

If it’s any consolation, the Jaguars play a lot of bad defensive teams the last five weeks of the season. The next two weeks they play the New York Giants, ranked 31st and 24th against the pass, and Houston, ranked 29th and 31 against the pass.

Then they go to Baltimore, which is ranked 11th and is 22nd against the pass, and then come home to play Tennessee, ranked 28th and 11th against the pass. And they finish the season at Houston.

The one positive is that Bortles doesn’t seem to have lost his confidence.

“He appears to be strong,” coach Gus Bradley said. “He appears to be very confident. Not to get confused with confidence and getting frustrated. I think he wants to give more and he wants to produce more.”

The Jaguars may need an offseason to work on his mechanics but Bradley said they can work on some things during the season.

“You work from the neck up during the season,” Bradley said. “You talk about reading coverages, your decision making, things like that. A lot of the times from the waist down, foot work and things like that, but your throwing mechanics and those things, you may need to hold off until you get to the offseason.”

The Jaguars still hope Bortles is their quarterback of the future. They have to hope he is simply suffering from rookie growing pains.

The immediate question is whether he will look any better the last five games against some of the league’s worst defenses.

REPORT CARD VS. COLTS

PASSING OFFENSE: F — Rookie quarterback Blake Bortles continued to struggle and his first pass was behind Marcedes Lewis and was intercepted. That was just the start of a game in which he completed only 15 of 27 passes for 146 yards and a quarterback rating of 55.5. He is still suffering rookie growing pains.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D — When Denard Robinson rushed for over 100 yards against the Browns and Dolphins, the Jaguars hoped he was turning the corner in his transition to running back. But he got only 60 yards against Dallas although 32 came on a touchdown run, and 25 against Indianapolis and fumbled in both games. After Jonas Gray ran for 201 yards against the Colts, the Jaguars hoped they could run against them but they stacked the box to stop Robinson.

PASS DEFENSE: B — The Jaguars sacked Andrew Luck five times, three by Chris Clemons in the first quarter, and held him to six points in the first half. But he put two touchdowns on the board in the second half and wound up passing for 253 yards and a 100.1 quarterback rating. But they did stop his string of 300-yard passing games at eight.

RUSH DEFENSE: B — The Colts rushed for 175 yards, but Andrew Luck got 49 of those yards on eight scrambles. Daniel Herron started and got 65 yards on 12 carries, but they held Trent Richardson to 42 yards on 13 carries.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D — Josh Cribbs ran a punt return back 82 yards for a touchdown but it was nullified by a penalty and Josh Scobee got their only points on a 28-yard field goal but it was partially blocked. The Jaguars are having problems protecting on field goals. Cribbs also had 18- and 10-yard punt returns.

COACHING: D — Gus Bradley hasn’t lost the team and he has held the defense together but he seems to have no answers for a sputtering offense. And Jedd Fisch’s play-calling has been suspect. He either won’t call long passes or Blake Bortles won’t stay in the pocket long enough to throw them. And a screen pass on third-and-12 at the Indianapolis 14 was a head scratcher. It got four yards.