INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano is pleased with his team’s 5-2 won-loss record.

A 27-0 win over Cincinnati Sunday gave the Colts five straight victories after starting out the regular season with an 0-2 mark. Overall, Indianapolis is playing well right now. But there is still plenty of room to improve.

“We’re just starting to get a glimpse of what we envisioned when we got together a couple years ago, what we wanted to build when we first got here,” Pagano said. “Looks like that monster is starting to rear its head a little bit. We just have to stay humble, keep working and get better.”

The continued improvement of the Indianapolis defense through the first seven games of the season has not been lost on Pagano.

“I think anytime you have success, confidence comes along with that,” he said. “We’ve got good players out there who are staying healthy, knock on wood. You got some corners that can play, cover and take guys away. The safety play has been good. They’re playing good at all three levels.

“They’re playing together. They’re playing as a unit. The communication is great. Like I said, the execution, we just got to keep it going. We can play better. I know we can and we will. They’re bound and determined to be. We’ve always envisioned us to be a top five, if not a top defense in the league. We’ve just got to keep working.”

The five-game winning streak is the longest for the franchise dating back to 2008-09 (23 wins).

The Colts are among the NFL leaders in several offensive and defensive categories. That’s the good news. But Pagano wasn’t pleased with the team’s two fumbles, both coming in Bengals territory. One of those turnovers occurred in the red zone.

Indianapolis continues to have issues in allowing teams to stay in contention took long. The Colts need to do a better job of putting teams away when they have the opportunity.

“You’ve got to clean it up. You can’t have it,” he said. “We had opportunities. Especially the one down there in the low red zone, fixing to at least have three points, but you turn that one over.

“Then we get another one moving the ball and ending up shooting yourself in the foot. Credit to Cincinnati, they did a nice job stripping it and taking it away, but you can’t have, you can’t have penalties and you can’t have turnovers. We’ve got to get it cleaned up.”

Quarterback Andrew Luck knows that the Colts have gotten lucky a few times in terms of turnovers. A couple of Luck’s passes were very nearly picked off by Cincinnati.

“Obviously turnovers kill you. We were very fortunate there were a couple interceptions that were dropped; that could have been catastrophic. The turnovers weren’t good, and again that’s a good defense,” Luck said.

“They forced us into some stuff, but thankfully we sort of broke through, got some points on the board. You feel like you don’t have to do too much when you’re playing with a defense like [how Indianapolis has been playing]. They do and have done a heck of a job all year. Fun to feed off each other.”

Notes: Wide receiver Reggie Wayne played in the game after injuring his elbow and was due for an MRI Monday. . . . Running back Trent Richardson returned after hurting his hamstring early in the game and is expected to undergo an MRI. . . . Inside linebacker Jerrell Freeman missed three games with a hamstring issue, then had a hip problem during the game, but played through it. . . . Outside linebacker Erik Walden was ejected from the Cincinnati game after making illegal contact with a referee.

REPORT CARD VS. BENGALS

–PASSING OFFENSE: A — Indianapolis QB Andrew Luck completed 27-of-42 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns. TE Dwayne Allen scored on a 32-yard catch and run while RB Ahmad Bradshaw scored on a 10-yard toss from Luck. WR T.Y. Hilton led the way with seven receptions for 107 yards. TE Coby Fleener added four receptions for 64 yards. Nine different receivers caught a pass in the game.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: A — As a team, the Colts had 171 yards on 34 rushing attempts, averaging 5.0 yards per carry. RB Trent Richardson had 77 yards in 14 carries while Bradshaw added 52 yards in 10 attempts, including a 1-yard TD run. Daniel “Boom” Herron also played well coming off the bench in the fourth quarter.

–PASS DEFENSE: A — Indianapolis sacked Cincinnati QB Andy Dalton three times and limited him to a 55.4 passer rating. Dalton completed 18-of-38 passes for 126 yards. TE Jermaine Greshman had 10 catches but for only 48 yards. The Bengals averaged 7.0 yards per reception. Dalton had only been sacked three times this season coming into the Colts game.

–RUSH DEFENSE: A — Seven carries for 17 yards — those were the final totals for Bengals RB Giovani Bernard. Twelve attempts for 32 yards — that was the final rushing numbers for Cincinnati as a team. The Bengals averaged just 2.7 yards per rushing attempt. Enough said.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus — PK Adam Vinatieri made a 23-yard field goal to begin the game and then hit a 50-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. P Pat McAfee averaged 44.7 yards net and 48 yards overall on six punts. McAfee also had two punts downed inside the 20-yard line and three touchbacks on kickoff. He also had a special teams tackle on a kickoff returner by CB Adam Jones. WR/PR/KR Griff Whalen averaged 6.5 yards on two punt returns and 27 yards on one kickoff return. Whalen also struggled on one punt return attempt, misjudging the ball and allowing the Bengals to down it at the 2-yard line.

–COACHING: A. The Colts coaching staff, especially offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and defensive coordinator Greg Manusky, receive high marks for the job they’ve done over the past five games in tweaking and adjusting their respective schemes. Hamilton and Manusky have gotten their respective segments playing very well heading into the Pittsburgh game.