FOXBORO — Like most broken things, the Patriots defense cracked first.

It cracked on Anthony Richardson’s fourth-and-3 completion that kept the Colts on life support with three and a half minutes left.

It cracked four plays later on the fourth-down run Richardson took for six yards under the two-minute warning.

And when Richardson burst through their line again, this time for three yards, two points and a lead that all but assured victory Sunday, the Patriots shattered.

Christian Barmore laid flat on his back in the end zone. Jahlani Tavai rested on his knees. Davon Godchaux sprawled on his stomach. A scene of destruction and defeat.

Blame for what happened later spread across the locker room.

Godchaux, who had a front row seat to Richardson’s two-point conversion, told reporters he did his job.

Jabrill Peppers suggested the defensive linemen had to play better.

One of those defensive linemen, Keion White, said he knew Richardson would run, while another, Christian Barmore, argued he was illegally blocked on the play, and may have had a case.

One thing they could agree on: this defense is not together. Not sound. In other words, broken.

“We’re just not playing cohesively as a defense,” White said.

“We’ve just got to play more fundamentally, I guess,” Peppers shrugged.

“It’s too late in the season to be saying, ‘this game we were close,’” Christian Gonzalez lamented.

Say what you will about Bill Belichick — who deserved to be fired for authoring a 29-39 record over his last four years and a decade-long stretch of poor drafting — his defenses hardly, if ever, looked like this. And certainly never sounded like this.

And it’s hard to imagine a Belichick-coached defense would have ever suffered a result like like this, had he or anyone with a similar command of defensive coaching been in charge Sunday.

Instead, the Patriots have rookie coaches Jerod Mayo and DeMarcus Covington, who can’t glue the pieces together. Can’t solidify simple fundamentals. Can’t coach up a steady pass rush. Can’t iron out communication issues in the red zone. Can’t average even one takeaway per game.

Can’t get their defense to simply wait out opponents like the Colts and quarterbacks like Richardson, who typically beat themselves. Did you know their only win the past five weeks came against the Jets? Or that Richardson has nine fumbles this year? Or his season-long completion percentage sits below 50%?

Foxboro, MA – New England Patriots linebacker Anfernee Jennings reacts as the Indianapolis Colts celebrate a game winning two point conversion during the fourth quarter of the game at Gillette Stadium. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

That player — however superhuman fast and strong as he may be — beat the Patriots. He converted two fourth downs with his arm, another with his legs and finally a two-point conversion that capped a 19-play march the Pats could’ve halted at any moment. They didn’t. Richardson chugged along, and they rode shotgun.

Maybe none of this should be surprising. Heading into kickoff, the Pats ranked 19th in points allowed, 29th by EPA per play and 30th according to DVOA. Sunday marked two months since Godchaux called out unnamed teammates for playing “selfish,” the first of many eyebrow-raising quotes to come from Foxboro in the Mayo era.

Now, calling out teammates is commonplace. Call-outs, of course, are mole hills compared to the mountain of on-field issues plaguing the Patriots, which start with roster talent. But Sunday’s quotes should invite a collective look in the mirror, especially for players like Godchaux patting themselves on the back while the team takes a Colt kick in the butt.

Because what White sees now is the same selfish, mistake-prone defense from September.

“It’s been the same story all season,” he told me.

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The path to beating the Colts wasn’t necessarily easy, but it was simple. Keep Richardson in the pocket. Force him to throw. Fit the run.

They failed. They lost.

In the end, the Patriots showed us who they are, as all teams do this time of year and in those do-or-die moments. Then, self-preservation and finger-pointing began.

Yet even at his end, that cold, bitter, snowy end last January, Belichick had the Patriots playing for one another; had them defending well enough to support efforts like the 24 points they received from Drake Maye and Co. Sunday.

What are they playing for now?

Not the man next to them. Only the one in the mirror.

“You never want to lose, and people’s jobs are on the line. So just keeping your job, for real,” White told me. “And making sure, the GM knows what you can do. That’s how I see it.”