It was throwing in the towel for the season. Kinda feel for Saturday bc it really isn't a fair shake.

You have to sort of wonder if Jim was able to see just how trash we were, frustrated with the re-tread QB carrossel and told Frank we needed to get busy losing and Frank refused leading to his dismissal.

No question Sunday was a tank and that Vikings loss, man that TD to Cook late, Franklin in particular, looked like he was pretty cool with Cook getting into the end zone.

I think Jim saw we would be 7-9 or 9-7 and maybe just squeak into or just miss the playoffs. Thing is, this is small market team. Its not like Kraft Heinz is backing this team's finances. Jim wants a competitive team on the field all the time if possible.

...But we simply are not going anywhere till we get a good QB, and the best way to do that is at the top of the draft. He knows it is the only path to long-sustained success. It doesn't help that the last few years have not been great QB classes.

I don't think coaches or players lose or want to lose. I think players might go into preserve my body for next season mode though. For the most part they don't want to tank. It gets coaches fired and players dismissed or drafted over. But if an owner were to say fire his coach and OC mid-season and no one there was competent enough to manage an offense. Well...

I don't adhere to conspiracy theories at all. I think Q ppl are nuts. But Irsay went against his own policy he has talked about repeatedly. Acted the crazy owner, which I think he plays up to a degree, and went to town.

I don’t believe that for a second.

Irsay genuinely believed that Saturday would turn things around, just like he believed Ehlinger would.

I believe that 100 percent.

Maaaaaaaan, Jim's been around this game since he was a baby, call him a lot of things, but he is a football guy. Surely he had enough vision to know inside that the outcome of installing a coach with a mediocre HS record and nothing more, combined with a dumpster dive QB, was not going to turn this thing around. Yeah, I think it was pretty clear to anyone that can see, Ryan was washed up, but a 6th round undersized QB as the answer?

I think he wanted to sell it all to hell to drive some energy into the seats of LOS but had a keen eye on the draft order possibilities if we absolutely sucked which has much greater odds than us suddenly getting rolling.

Now I'll throw this out.

Stroud this year
Marvin next

Burrow / Chase 2.0?

If its really true that Reich just wanted to be a glorified OC and to let his coordinators run their units, then that's a huge shit show. He's focused on execution but not toughness and discipline - just reps and technique.

I assume that's why he wanted Gus Bradley as DC. The guy was HC. And John Fox was probably doing a lot of the "real" HC duties behind the scenes.

Then we've become a finesse team that doesn't even have that.

I think Saturday is failing because the culture of no accountability and no toughness has seeped through this team through and through. It's soaking in it.

An entire new staff is going to be needed

It’s strange that after being a physical team last year, Reich just decided fuck it and become a finesse team this year. Even more strange is that decision so quickly affected the players that Nelson went from future Hall of Famer to little bitch in the matter of a few games.

Or again it could be that having a shit OL and a bad, immobile QB doomed the team. Guys keep making up scenarios to blame Reich. Like he suddenly forgot everything he knew on offense and put all the guys in skirts emasculating them the first day of training camp. Everyone wants a yeller and a screamer, they mistake that for leadership. If the guys constantly need yelled at to perform you have the wrong fucking players.

I think he wanted a trial period to evaluate Jeff. He probably thought he had nothing to lose. But turn it around? I doubt he thought that, historically that doesn’t happen.

They had Joel Erickson on Kevin and Query, a guy who has covered other teams and who still has contacts around the league, and they asked him what he’s heard about how the Colts franchise is viewed after this season.

He said he’s heard basically two different things.

One, that the vitriol Colts fans had for Frank Reich is not shared around the league. Basically, Reich is viewed as a decent coach who did as well as can be expected with a perpetually bad quarterback situation.

Two, that the franchise as a whole is not viewed as nearly as stable from ownership as it was previously. He said he’s gotten a lot of texts that end with basically, what the hell happened there?

I believe both of those. I’ve always felt Irsay’s firing of Reich had more to do with the fan base than anything else. You look at the QB situation in Indy and it’s hard as hell to have expected Reich to have won much more than he has. Especially when you throw in the issues at the other “winning” positions - LT, DE, WR, CB. He’s a good, not great coach, but far from the issue with this franchise. The sad thing is that this off season is the one where Reich would have the best chance to shine - mentoring a young QB.

I understand the argument that if Reich was only good and not great then there is room to improve. The issue is that the way Irsay went about things - both meddling with playing decisions and the joke of hiring Saturday - likely turns off the higher level candidates. The team simply isn’t a desirable destination due to Ballard and, especially, Irsay. I’d likely rather have Reich over whoever accepts the job for next year.

I would bet the same is true about Ballard around the league, too. Fans and local media always want to blame someone. Not going to be all that nuanced about it, either.

I’d honestly like to know people’s thoughts on him. There are definitely some positives for Ballard, but if I was a coaching candidate I’d have concerns about his philosophy. It puts a lot of pressure on the coach.

You make two excellent points here.

The first is I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have mentor a young quarterback than Frank Reich. Even if you don’t think he’s a good coach, his track record with quarterbacks is impeccable.

Second, this season has ensured that there’s no way in hell Payton or Harbaugh are ever coming here.

His evaluation of Wentz and Ryan was not impeccable. Which, is one of the reasons he's gone. The other 2 reasons is not holding players accountable and burying his head in the playbook and the call sheet for answers.

Whoever our next HC is, I DO NOT want them calling plays on either side of the ball. Coach the whole damn team.

The ironic thing is, the guy whose fucking job it is to evaluate players IS STILL HERE! How in the world do you blame Reich for shit that’s Ballard’s job description? My guess is Reich was looking for some, any kind of stability at QB. Can you blame him?

Do you think Reich also wanted to choose between a journeyman guard and a 3rd round rookie at LT? Who wasn’t held accountable? Reich was shuffling OL several games prior to being to fired. Let’s not forget Raimann was shit his first few starts as well. Hell the team started the season rotating him in at LT. Teams with solutions at LT don’t have rotations. It’s obvious now it was worth starting Raimann all season, but was it when the team was trying to win at the very beginning of the season? I don’t think so. But if you think it was, what the fuck does it say about Ballard’s evaluation of prior? You know the guy who actually signed him to be the bridge at LT.

I think the issue of Reich calling plays is way overblown, but if it’s such a big deal the team could have forced him to give up that responsibility. However, it’s not unheard of by any means and Reich came from a SB winning team with the exact same structure.

Irsay listened to you guys and sacrificed the scapegoat. So far I’ve failed to see how the team is better for it - except they fell apart so bad they finally have a shot at a QB. But if you think they’d have done decently better under Reich (as I do) and needed him fired to tank, then it’s hardly an indictment of his coaching. More a way to tank. One that turned the team into a laughingstock.

Carson Wentz last season-3500 yards 27 touchdowns 7 interceptions 94.6 qb rating.

Carson Wentz this season-1700 yards 11 touchdowns 9 interceptions 80.4 qb rating.

Kind of speaks for itself.

I mean, you can complain because he wanted him here in the first place but it’s not like the Colts had any better options.

Same goes for Ryan, although the complete collapse of the offensive line made it a moot point anyway. Pat Mahomes wasn’t winning behind that line.

Ron Rivera almost put the Commanders in the playoffs, in a very tough division with:
Carson Wentz
Taylor Heineke
Sam Howell

Playing some form of pin the tail on the play QB on television game every other week. The Commanders have what, Terry McLaurin as their best player and then who next, Chase Young, a ham sandwich?

I think Ron Rivera pretty much sucks as a coach.

A combination of play a coach on television managed to barely miss the playoffs in Carolina with the likes of:
Sam Darnold
Phillip Walker
Baker Mayfield
lining up under center. Who is even on Carolina besides those three players minus Mayfield? I watch a lot of football, I couldn't tell you another damn player on that team.

Conversely this team has name brand studs like JT, Buckner, Nelson, and we fucking suck as bad as any team has ever fucking sucked! We put 7 fucking dudes in the PB last year, and we missed the playoffs because the QB play down the stretch was terrifyingly bad! Frank Reich is no more a QB savant than Ryan Leaf was a better QB than Peyton Manning. He is a good dude that players love (because apparently they don't have any standards imposed on them) and the media likes and therefore push the agenda of him being a good coach.

Lol. Washington would have made the playoffs if they had gotten anywhere near the production out of Wentz that the Colts did last year. And they have Mclaurin, who is better than anyone the Colts have at wide receiver.

You’re making my argument for me.

I’m just telling you what Erickson said he has heard from around the league. Take it up with him.

The bottom line, there was an overflowing book of evidence that Frank Reich was not any good at being a head football coach in the NFL. He couldn't get a win against the worst team in the NFL in a gimmee game to get into the playoffs. He allowed Matt Pryor to man the LT spot during the pre-season and several other games this year. His team was averaging 16 ptpg in modern era NFL. He SUCKED, and he needed to go! Can't understand the continued attempts to prop him up as something more than he was, he was a bad HC.

That said, there is NO reason his boss should still be employed either. He perhaps sucks even worse! He hired essentially ALL the guys that sucked at football, and in some cases he gave them raises.

This team, the team he built, gave up the biggest comeback in NFL history and the worst 4th Qtr collapse in NFL history- in a 3 week span! We just lost to the worst team in the NFL, that was trying to lose!

IMO Ballard has to be on his knees thanking God for Jeff Saturday. I think he is here because Irsay wants Saturday to coach and any other self respecting GM would say hell no to that, therefore basically Ballard has a job that requires:
- Watching film of players for a couple hours
- Hitting the gym
- Getting his hair done
- Having a press conference twice a year
- Never having to provide his boss with a "Jim, let me try to explain moment"
Ballard has to LOVE life right now!

This team is fucked!

Because you mentioned it, and for what it's worth...

Here's a little 4-minute clip of former coach Dave Wanndstedt talking about coaching vacancies. Spends a little more time on the Colts because he thinks they're the most desirable open position. Specifics he likes: drafting young QB (despite not being the best class), JT returning, he likes the defense, and he likes Ballard ("he knows how to get players").

Thinks they can bounce back quicker than the other teams with vacancies. One guy's opinion, but again regarding Ballard, I think it's likely to be a common sentiment around the league.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HHHRdN9XWc

o


Money is not the root of all evil ...... Frank Reich is.

o

Nah, Franks a decent head coach who was stuck with a fatally flawed roster.

We witnessed firsthand what a bad coach looks like when Jeff Saturday took over and they promptly collapsed in historic fashion.

This team was only 3-5-1 because of Franks coaching ability. That’s clear now.

o


Also, the Colts were 4-3-1 with Matt Ryan at quarterback after the win over the Raiders ...... 0-2 with Sam Ehrlinger at QB, and 4-5-1 overall.

And no, I'm not advocating that a 38 year-old, immobile Matt Ryan should return to the Colts for the 2023 season ...... but rather that the offensive line was more of a problem than was our quarterbacks this season. There is no way that Philip Rivers would have led the Colts to an 11-6 record and a playoff berth in 2020 if he had had the 2022 Colts offensive line blocking for him that season.

o

Let’s not forget they were 3-3-1 before Irsay began dictating personnel decisions. And Reich had shown the ability to get them playing better after a slow start.