Lots of people said this last year. And the year before.

And he wouldn't be here if Irsay could have closed the deal with any of the handful of candidates (experienced, Super Bowl pedigree ) that he considered at the end of our last two mediocre seasons. This year, not even limping our way into the playoffs (which isn't likely to happen), will save his job. I firmly believe when he hired Ballard he also made the decision to put the selection of the next head coach into his hands which opens up the possibility of more less tenured candidates. Time will tell but I'd be willing to put money behind this prediction. I see NO scenario where chuck is back.

This is what my head and my heart both tell me. Irsay tried to bring in a high-caliber coach early in January, missed, saw it was too late for a new GM to hire a good coach and staff, and knew Luck would be out at least throughout OTAs and some camp.

Add all of that together and Irsay more or less told Ballard, "don't worry about the coaching staff for 2017. Build your scouting department, start churning the roster, and use 2017 as an evaluation year up and down the organization."

Exactly! Irsay may be an addict but he also has grown up in the football business and one of his deep seated motivations is to Not run his business like his father did so he's more loyal and sometimes slower to act than his fans would like but he's not the bumbling idiot that some are making him out to be. This season may be shaping up to be a bit of a cluster fuck (perfect storm) but as long as andrew comes back to full form physically and mentally we have the most important asset we need. Everything else from competent coaching to a better roster are all achievable within the next couple of years.....we just need to ride out the current shitstorm.

Obviously I hope you're right. But I'm not putting anything past the owner that signed both Grigson and Pagano to second contracts.

And already bought one of them out. The other is likely to go, too. Like was said, he had no real replacement options then.

You don’t know that !

Dead guy in the morgue would've been a satisfactory replacement.

2017 was a lost year regardless. I'd rather Ballard get feelers out and get his pick of the litter for 2018.

Also, if it's a guy like Toub, coordinators and position coaches are going to be ultra important. Those guys change jobs the first 10 days after the season, so Irsay had already missed the window.