The final week of the regular season has arrived, and Black Monday is a couple of days away. The annual Black Monday tradition, where some NFL teams decide to make changes in the front office and/or coaching staffs. Last year, the late Jim Irsay chose to run it back with both general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen.
This year, we have arrived in the same limbo after a ripping 8-2 start; the team has completely collapsed and is now on pace to finish under .500 again this season. This week’s final game against Houston will decide just that and could be the final marker for the new ownership, led by Carlie Irsay-Gordon. This will be the sixth consecutive season without a playoff appearance for this franchise.
I have stated in prior content that it is general manager Chris Ballard who should be fired, not Shane Steichen. It is Ballard who has his fingerprints all over the second-half crash landing of the football team. Whether that is being unprepared for roster issues or the poor development of the current roster, it’s a continued cycle of mediocrity that this city and fanbase have grown tired of.
Dealt A Bad Hand?
The debate as to whether to keep Steichen and dump Ballard or dump them both is raging all over the Colts message boards and social media. I believe the sisters will relieve Ballard of his duties but will keep Shane Steichen as head coach. The tricky part is that there is no 100 percent correct answer this time around.
After a blistering start to the season, the Colts lost the one quarterback that seemed to gel with Steichen and this offense. Daniel Jones was on pace for a fantastic season and had some MVP buzz along with Jonathan Taylor. It all came crashing down when they lost Daniel Jones to a torn Achilles and were left with an offense run by 44-year-old Philip Rivers.
While that sounds all fine, it was a massive blow to this football team that Ballard did not have a true backup quarterback ready. Sure, Anthony Richardson could fill that role, but he was out with an orbital fracture after a freak incident with an exercise band. Ballard chose not to use a security blanket to cover this, even given Daniel Jones’s injury history. It seemed lazy of Ballard to expect that this would all work out.
Fast forward, the franchise has not won a single game without Daniel Jones, as the Philip Rivers experiment did not pan out. Nothing bad to say about Rivers, in fact, he was just fine. He played at a high level, but he is old and out of shape for the NFL game. He made a positive impact on the locker room and had the respect of the players and staff. All that was expected, but so was the lag in his actual play. While his game management did not miss a step, it was his ability to throw with zip and the deep ball.
Winning With Less
Obviously, Steichen has not blown us all away with his coaching. Otherwise, I would not be penning this article for all of us. He has proven his talents as a play caller, and he seems to be liked by the players and staff for his work ethic and football IQ.
You could argue the most damning part of his resume is his record against both Houston and Jacksonville. After last week’s loss, his record against those two teams now sits at 2-9 and will likely move to 2-10. It’s hard to win a division when you cannot defeat your two biggest rivals consistently. His inability to properly develop Anthony Richardson would be the other blemish. However, that goes both ways, as it appears that Richardson had some reported maturity and work ethic issues himself.
Steichen and his team were decimated by injuries this season. They lost most of their draft class for large chunks (if not more) of the season very early on. The trade for Sauce Gardner has not yet come to fruition, as injuries to both Mooney Ward and Gardner have prevented them from seeing the whole vision for this secondary. On offense, we saw the failures of Adonai Mitchell (traded) and Daniel Jones’ injury destroy the momentum they had built.
Why Keep Steichen?
Does Shane Steichen bear some of the blame for this historic collapse this season? Without question, he does, but he can only play with the toys he has been given, per se. This season highlighted the glaring issues Steichen faced with roster construction. This team had a great offense, and he found a quarterback willing to embrace his scheme and execute it to near perfection.
Steichen made the easy decision to get rid of the former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who was inherited, and replace him with Lou Anarumo this season. This defense has had its moments of concern, but overall, it has been more consistent, even with weaker personnel. The linebacker room was devoid of real talent this season, yet it still managed to sustain itself. The decision to bring in Anarumo has been a positive one this season, and I hope he can return if Steichen is retained.
For Steichen to keep this team mostly competitive with an injured roster shows his prowess as a head coach. Look, he is far from perfect, but he is an elite play caller and offensive mind. He showed what this offense is capable of early in the season. I know it was weaker competition, but expecting to win games with Rivers wasn’t sustainable. Jones and Steichen both embraced and respected each other’s work ethic and attention to detail.
If you look at this season’s cycle of potential head coaches, not one single candidate stands out. It’s a defensive-heavy cycle of potential head coaches highlighted by Chris Shula and Brian Flores. Firing Steichen leaves the conundrum of “Who are you going to get that improves this franchise?” None of these names excites me, except maybe Brian Flores, but many franchises have gone down the offensive coach path. I do not see that changing for Indianapolis if they choose to make a change at head coach.
Keeping Steichen would allow some roster flexibility in the future. They can try to improve the core of the offense and really invest in defense to improve across the board. More importantly, bringing back both Jones and Steichen is something I think this entire fanbase wants to see. They made each other better as both player and coach, and seeing this again would be fun to watch. I think Steichen also needs someone else to direct him and provide new draft picks and players to help maximize the schemes on both sides of the ball. Houston and Jacksonville are improving; it’s time for a new voice in the front office to maximize Shane Steichen’s potential.
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