JANUARY 1, 2023: Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com report that Saturday will “absolutely” be a candidate for the full-time gig, despite recent reports to the contrary. Irsay remains a “big fan” of Saturday, and if the surprising head coach can assemble a quality staff, he will have a real shot to have his interim tag removed. Given Indianapolis’ traditional power structure — the head coach reports to the GM, who reports to the owner — the team’s HC post may not appeal to high-profile candidates who want more personnel control. Indianapolis’ uncertain quarterback situation won’t help matters either.
DECEMBER 29, 2022: Jim Irsay‘s experiment to replace Frank Reich with Jeff Saturday has not gone well. The Colts won their first Saturday-coached game but have lost five straight, with the past two outings being the low point in a wildly disappointing season. Irsay has repeatedly said he will keep Chris Ballard on as GM, but the team’s head-coaching situation will be in the spotlight.
Reich will be on the Colts’ payroll for a while, having signed a four-year extension which is believed to be worth $9MM per year. Despite saying at the time the team had “as great a general manager-head coach combination as there is in the NFL,” Irsay said during an ESPN interview this week (via the New York Post) he was not ready to extend Reich and did so “reluctantly.”
Although the summer 2021 Reich re-up may have been reluctant, Irsay was effectively out of time to hammer out that deal. Reich’s original contract was for five years, and not extending him during the summer of ’21 would have meant the Colts would have been close to having their head coach — who had ventured to two playoff brackets in three years, the second of which without Andrew Luck — moving toward a lame-duck year. Such arrangements are uncommon in the modern NFL, and Irsay provided Reich a second contract. Obviously, the Colts have changed course this year.
Irsay took on a lead role after the team’s 2021 collapse, insisting on a trade of Carson Wentz and then instructing Ballard to complete the Matt Ryan deal. Irsay then drove Ryan’s midseason benching for Sam Ehlinger and fired Reich soon after. Had Saturday not agreed to take over, Irsay said this week Reich would have stayed on longer this season. When asked if he would have fired Reich had Saturday passed on the offer, Irsay said he would have given Reich a bit more time.
Saturday accepting Irsay’s offer led to full-scale blowback against the Colts, who made one of the most shocking interim hires in NFL history. The Colts are coming off back-to-back nationally televised losses, including the Vikings breaking Reich’s near-30-year-old record by erasing a 33-point deficit in Week 15. Irsay said before this week’s Chargers loss Saturday will be competitive for the full-time job and remains “an outstanding candidate.” But execs around the league do not expect Saturday to stick around beyond this season.
The Colts allowing 33 fourth-quarter points to the Cowboys, in the second of their nationally televised Saturday losses, and blowing the lead in Minnesota have execs “convinced” the team will move on from Saturday at season’s end, per Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post. Irsay previously said he was looking forward to interviewing a host of candidates for the position, making that comment weeks after indicating hope Saturday would do enough to stay on full-time.
Jim Harbaugh is believed to be on the Colts’ radar for 2023. The Colts’ last HC search produced two hires, with Reich taking over after Josh McDaniels bailed, raising the stakes for this upcoming process. This will be a pressure-packed hire for Irsay and Ballard, with the Colts closing out a chaotic year.
Bring chuckle back
Why is everyone scared of having a “lame-duck” year? It’s really a “prove it” year.
Because it’s bad business and a PR nightmare. If a coach is good enough to keep around they should never be in a situation where they could leave. Free agents may be hesitant to sign due to the coaching uncertainty. Quality assistant may be more inclined to leave for a more stable situation. The good coach you had will now be able to sign with the highest bidder. There is no franchise tag for coaches so it’s generally a sign of a lack of confidence in the current regime if they are allowed to coach without security. Most times they even get the ceremonial 1 year extension. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule but in general it’s about stability
Simple fix: Hire Freddie Kitchens.
Bring good ol Jim Caldwell back
I wouldn’t want irsay to be my boss if I had offers elsewhere
Agreed. There are only 32 of these jobs, but if you’re one of the very top guys, there are better situations open.
Irsay has become a clown show. No legit coach is going to want to go there. Amazing what happens when franchises are passed down thru the family and the the kids who did nothing forever are in charge. Cardinals, Texans, RAIDAS, Colts. The Chiefs and Titans are the exception.
In fairness, Irsay’s dad was also an erratic drunk.
There, but for the grace of God, go I…
Maybe applies to other posters too…
Cheers ! 😉
I thought the same thing, then realised eight-figure work contracts are hard to come by, even for solid GMs and Ballard had yet to establish himself at the 70th percentile.
But if me, well I’ll switch sports and quote Bobby Bo, “nothing can take the smile off of my face”….
Train. Wreck.
As the owner, how do you “reluctantly” give someone a contract extension? You either do or you don’t.
Irsay is like a monkey with a machine gun.
Which is really entertaining to watch, as long as you’re not in the same room.
He deserves nothing but rotten luck going forward. When he hired Saturday he crapped on and disrespected all these other coaches who busted their asses to try and be in position for head coaching jobs. Hire a former player on an interim basis who spends 5 days a week talking about football on ESPN SMH
For all the complaining Irsay does about other owners Jim seems like he’s becoming lost about ‘running’ his team. He flip flops on so many player acquisitions and coaching personnel decisions. Jim has the patience of a teenager.
Across the league it has taken most teams 5-6 weeks, some longer, for the team makeup to gel. Which is odd though seemingly normal.
it seems to be becoming more prevalent, not sure if social media is just casting the light more or its become acceptable as other ‘leaders’ are doing it. either way the guy is toxic and acts as if he built the fortune and the team from scratch rather than inherited.
You guys are totally wrong about Jim Irsay; he is nothing like his dad & he did take a franchise on the verge of relocating to become the dominant team of the 2000’s. His dad was a drunk, hot tempered, & knew nothing about football. Jim was GM of the Colts from their first year in Indy until the mid 90’s. He played at SMU. He does know football, but was smart enough to trade a high draft pick to Carolina for Bill Polian, who built the winner. Jim flew to Tampa in 2002 the day the Bucs fired Tony Dungy & hired him before anyone else could interview.
Just because a team is going through a rough time, precipitated by the surprise early retirement of Andrew Luck, doesn’t mean they/he have always sucked. The AFC South has been around 20 years; the Colts have 9 division titles; with only two since 2011; the Manning-less year (aka the Curtis Painter debacle). Shows you how dominant they were in the decade 2000-2009.
Saturday’s failure is in a great part due to still having to use Reich’s terrible plays, being called by 39 year old assistant QB coach. Reich left the cupboard bare. And don’t say John Fox or Gus Bradley should have been made interim HC because they were both total failures as HC. It really doesn’t matter who from this staff had been named interim HC; they were doomed. Reich totally killed this team, probably for next year as well.
He’s running the colts this year like he’s totally drunk!! And he doesn’t know football at all!!!! This year proves if
Wow that’s a whole lot of rationalizing there. By inserting himself and his massive ego into coaching and QB decisions multiple times, he has made it a nightmare coaching destination. No coach with any credibility is gonna want to have an “Irsay” breathing down his neck and second guessing when things don’t go the way HE thinks they should. They’re in a mess and the responsibility lies directly at his feet.
Saturday has them playing decently despite missing key pieces and found offense some offense given what they have.
Colts have no clue what theyre doing.
Bring back Saturday
Bring in Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator or someone Ryan is familiar with.
Draft a long term QB.
Division is wide open. Colts really just need a healthy roster and a better offensive game plan plus some help on defense.
Irsay is an embarrassment. Not only does he make many questionable decisions (but who doesn’t?), but unlike others he also says stupid stuff much too often. What does he think will be the advantage of maintaining that he didn’t really wanted to do what he actually did? And which decent coach would want to be thrown under the bus after he already has been fired?
Gruß,
BSHH
Irsay is a buffoon like his father. It was a sad day about 50 years ago when Bob Irsay bought the LA Rams and traded that franchise to Carroll Rosenbloom for the Colts. Only thing is, Indy wouldn’t have the Colts now under Jim Irsay. Probably would be better off for the fans with an expansion team and reputable owners who know what they are doing. The town deserves a better NFL owner who doesn’t meddle.
The Colts could have ended up in Jacksonville, Memphis, Tampa, or most any Sunbelt city willing to give them a ready-made stadium.
I would argue that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers exist thanks in part to the desire for the NFL fed by the Colts courting the region.
dcahan- I wouldn’t call the Colts the dominant team of the 2000s with one SB. Did you forget about the Patriots. Peyton was one of the all time greats and Jim Irsay ran him out of town. Manning still had plenty left and excelled in Denver with division titles and SB. I’ll never forgive Irsay for showing #18 the door like the his dad did with #19.
The Colts had more wins in the decade of 2001-2010 than any other team; in fact, more wins than any team in any one decade in the history of the NFL! I know N.E. won 3 SB’s & Pittsburgh won 2, but as for wins, Colts take it. I believe that’s dominant. So dominant that the Patriots traded for Wes Welker & Randy Moss & emulated the Colts offense & had the first 16-0 reg season & nearly went 19-0, losing to the Giants in the SB. That’s a pretty big compliment.
The Foxboro Cheatriots had to spy on their opponents to make their 2007 season possible.
Kliff Kingsbury could be available next year…
Jim Irsay will reluctantly try and hire Jim Harbaugh as his next coach for 2023