One more game, Indianapolis Colts fans. For those of you still watching these games, there’s only a week left.
Indianapolis lost its sixth straight game with Jeff Saturday as head coach and was beaten 38-10 by the New York Giants on Sunday. To say the Colts are currently directionless is too kind. They actively dropped a bomb during their season with a slew of rash moves that eventually cratered. They are 4-11-1 and their season has been so bad lately that it’s easy to forget it didn’t have to be.
The Colts started 3-2-1 and were only 3-5-1 when former head coach Frank Reich was let go so the franchise could get a head start into the next era. Firing Reich may have been a bit rash, but it wasn’t entirely unjustified. The formula had gotten a little stale on the Colts offense and they were having a really rough time with Matt Ryan as the starting quarterback, even with the OK record.
Pretty much everything that’s happened since then is indefensible. Starting Sam Ehlinger in the middle of a quality season made no sense. Hiring Saturday as interim head coach made no sense and he’s been as bad as anyone expected since he took over. The Colts staged the biggest comeback in NFL history two weeks ago, and Sunday marked the third week in a row that an opponent managed something against them.
If the Colts return to the ranks of respectability in the next few years, team owner Jim Irsay should just… relax. Take it easy. Go on vacation. Start doing things that make sense. Perhaps bottoming out is the best move for the Colts in the long run, but it’s hard to trust this mission to be successful based on how this entire season has turned out. It wasn’t a slow, painful climb to the finish. They stood on their own two feet to start the season and then decided they didn’t want feet anymore – this falls on Irsay.
Prior to the game, NFL Network reported that Saturday was still in the running for the full-time job as head coach of the Colts. How? How is that possible? There’s nothing that has shown that he’s ready for this role right now, and how could he be? He had minimal high school coaching experience and no NFL experience before that. Saturday isn’t supposed to be good at being an NFL coach, and he isn’t.
Everyone seems to have understood this from the jump except for Irsay, which is the biggest problem for the Colts. Irsay wants to play a big part in the organization, which is his right as owner of the team, but they don’t seem to have a stable foundation that lends themselves to success. Things just need to cool down and become a little more normal for the Colts. The Saturday experience failed. It is what it is, no need to make it worse by letting this rot and rot in 2023. Start using some logic, Jim.
This Colts season is long over and it shouldn’t have turned out that way, with a series of firings and benchings, one of the wildest head coaching hires in NFL history, and clear signs of impatience and arrogance along the way. This was a total implosion that does not inspire confidence for the future. A little advice for Jim Irsay on a New Year’s resolution? Take it easy dude. Just act normal for a few years.
