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Colts Not Ready to Extend Coach Chuck Pagano’s Contract

By Evan Reller

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The Indianapolis Colts have exceeded expectations every year since coach Chuck Pagano took over in 2012. But team owner Jim Irsay isn’t ready to ink Pagano to a long term deal just yet.

Pagano’s contract expires at the end of the season but he isn’t quite on a hot seat just yet. While the team has gotten better each season, there have been a number of missteps.

The Colts are still blown out by opponents far too often and enter games completely unprepared to play. Irsay can look at games like the blowout against Pittsburgh or Dallas last season as signs this team is poorly coached. There are also the four straight one-sided losses to New England, including the two playoff beatings the Colts suffered.

At the same time, Pagano is clearly respected highly in the locker room. His defense has gotten better each year and its easy to make the argument that this past defense overachieved despite a poorly constructed roster.

Pagano has also had to deal with an overbearing general manager who has forced him to play certain players to the detriment of the team (read: Trent Richardson and LaRon Landry). One has to wonder if this could be the last season for Ryan Grigson as well.

The Colts have made a number of moves that prove its Super Bowl-or-Bust in 2015. This is just another sign the team is all in for a championship.

The team signed veterans Andre Johnson and Frank Gore to short term deals in an attempt to improve the offense. Both players likely have just a year or two of quality play left in their bodies.

The Colts are also closing in on a cap killer in the form of Andrew Luck‘s future contract that will likely eat up a large amount of money every year for the rest of his tenure in Indianapolis.

Even Pagano recognized that this is possibly his last season with the Colts while citing the problems with the run defense in an interview with the IndyStar.

“It’s (run defense) our Achilles heel right now,” Pagano said. “We either get it fixed or it will be somebody else getting it fixed.”

There is no guarantee that Pagano will be fired after this season if the team doesn’t win a championship, but it does add a little pressure for him to succeed as a coach.

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