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OK, Captain Ambitious. That's great. And if Ballard had said just that, I'm sure that all of the pessimistic Colts fans whom are fed up with Ballard would think, "Hey, this guy gets it ...... maybe he is our guy, because he has the right attitude, and the right mindset."

You can say that the Colts' goal in 2026 is whatever you want it to be ...... Ballard can say that the Colts' goal in 2026 is whatever he wants it to be ...... but for a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2020, any talk about anything other than making the playoffs is all hot air and blustery bullshit.

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winning the division is the 1st goal. being a wc team should not be the goal.

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And the Colts have not done either since 2020.

More significantly, I would rather be a Wildcard team with a record of 12-5 or 11-6 than be a division winner with a record of 9-8 or 8-9 ...... having a team that is a bona-fide contender (like the 2020 Colts were when they went 11-5 and took Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills right down to the wire on their homefield in northwestern New York State in the playoffs) is much more preferable than a team with a mediocre record that has almost no chance to do anything of significance in the playoffs winning the division (like the 2022 Buccaneers who went 8-9 did.)

Yes, generally speaking, winning the division is more important that getting a Wildcard. But more important than that is having a team winning 11 or 12 games (regardless of whether or not that nets them a division title or a Wildcard berth) and being a bona-fide contender.


Splitting hairs over what Ballard said at the press conference in regard to what the goal of the team is for next year isn't going to change the fate of the 2026 Indianapolis Colts at all ...... Ballard's actions in the draft, in re-signing players that are eligible for free agency, and any potential off-season trades that he makes will.

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Considering we were 8-2 before the collapse setting the bar to win the division and 1-2 playoff games is very much a realistic goal. With the FO and ownership saying the goal is to make the playoffs makes me believe that they'll be happy with a 7 seed one and done playoff team, which they shouldn't be.

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I completely agree with that. In fact, I am one of the Colts fans who believes that it is highly likely that the 2026 Colts will be one of the best teams in the NFL, and that with a healthy Daniel Jones the team is much closer to the one that went 8-2 before he broke his leg than the one that went 0-7 after he broke it.

That wasn't the overall point of what I said in my original post that you quoted, though. The overall point is that Ballard's wording of what the team's goal is has little to no significance in my confidence in him. What Ballard does in the upcoming draft, what he does in regard to keeping big-time free agents on the roster while somehow keeping the salary cap intact, and what he does overall to improve that team's biggest weakness (the pass-rush) is what will tip the scales in regard to whether or not I will continue to have confidence in Ballard in 2026 and beyond.

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Therein is why we disagree. We judge the man on different scales. I now judge him on winning. I used to judge him, like you, on how I personally perceived he was doing. It took me 8 years to recognize that the results were not jibing with my judgements. So now I will judge him on one thing only, our record. After a decade his excuses ring hollow to me. I just don't believe them anymore because I've heard them year after year after year and they always are proven to be incorrect. I'll believe when Ballard says/predicts are actually correct. And, ass that I am, I will need more than one lucky year to be totally back on his bandwagon.

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Fine, you can judge him on winning, and that is legitimate ...... ultimately, the Colts have only had one season as bona-fide contender (2020) in his 9-year tenure as the team's GM (2017 through 2025.)

That wasn't the gist of my original post on this topic, though. The gist of my original post was in regard to Ballard's wording of the team's goal in 2026, which I believe has very little (if any) value in regard to the team's future fate.

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The fact that some of us (myself included) are arguing over Ballard's wording of the team's future goal in a press conference tells me that ColtFreaks is having as bad of a 2026 off-season as the Colts did in their 0-7 collapse to end the 2025 season ...... the Colts sucked in that 0-7 collapse, and so do we here at ColtFreaks.

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None of us like mediocrity. It is preferable to being the perennial Jets/Browns/etc., however. Those franchises are without hope year after year because they are poorly run. They are constantly turning over front office people and coaches. The Titans seem to be following in their footsteps under their new owner. She is as reactive as Robert Irsay was. Usually, continuity in the front office pays off long term. I know you will say Ballard has had a long term, and I agree. Where we disagree is whether or not Ballard can get us over the hum into perennial contender status. Outside of local fans, most people think he can do it, but just needs to figure out the QB situation. This is where I fall, too, as I see teams with a Brady, Manning, Brees, Rodgers, BigBen, etc. were always in contention because if the QB. History has shown us that this is the best way to sustain success, but it also shows that a team that is solid in most other areas can carry a Brad Johnson or Trent Dilfer to the SB victory. That is why I understand what Ballard said when he said he wanted a team that is not totally dependent on a superstar QB to save the day every week, because that works for maybe 80% of the games, until you run into another superstar QB with a better overall roster (think Cheats rosters versus those Manning had), or until the superstar is out (see the years Brady, Manning, and now Mahomes were out; the teams could not get there without them.)

We can disagree all year long, and if we get over the hump, those on this side will crow about how our patience was rewarded, while the other side will continually complain until we win it. To me, it is sad to see SB or bust as the only mark of success, given that only one team gets that every year. If that is your mentality, I would have to assume you are also employed by one of the Fortune 500 companies, possibly as CEO. Otherwise, holding others to a standard that you do not hold yourself to in your personal life is hypocrisy.

Bottom line: Ballard and Steichen are coming back next year whether it is a popular move or not, and we do not get to make that decision. I get it that people use this forum to vent their frustrations, but some of us get tired of the continual beating of the proverbial dead horse, especially a horse like me.

I applaud your honesty here. You are one of the few detractors that has the ability to be swayed by evidence. Most just have hated Ballard since the first year, or shortly thereafter. They seem to dislike his personality. To me, personality is the least of my worries. Their dislike of him from the onset makes me think they are our version of Dickitch, who thinks Grigson was a great GM because he was lucky to have Andrew Luck at QB to save his ass every year. The team was clearly a corpse when they fired that clown, and Ballard had to fix that corpse. Has it taken longer than I hoped? You are absolutely right that it did. However, I do not see the roster declining every year like it did under Grigson, who I supported early on.