Glass Half-Full: Chuck Pagano Ranked as NFL’s 11th Best Head Coach

According to CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco, Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano is ranked as the NFL’s 11th best head coach–despite his team finishing 8-8 in consecutive seasons.

While there’s nothing wrong with some occasional optimism here-and-there, this ranking does seem a bit high at first glance given the Colts recent results:

"Oct 30, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano watches the Colts warm up before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports11. Chuck Pagano, Colts"

"Does this seem high for a guy on the hot seat after last season? Maybe, but he has a .613 winning percentage and still hasn’t had a losing season in five with the Colts. This is a team that hasn’t had a lot of talent, yet it has been to the postseason three times during Pagano’s tenure. The past two 8-8 seasons, coming in a bad division, don’t help his ranking. But the talent level wasn’t good and Andrew Luck has suffered nagging injuries. If he had been fired, I think another team would have hired him quickly."

There’s no question that Pagano has been provided a roster of aging veterans and lackluster young talent from the previous regime in recent seasons–especially on the defensive side of the football.

Not only has the defense had a middling talent base (and few pass rushers), but the Colts never really provided Andrew Luck with adequate offensive line help up-front either.

After all, it’s hard to bake an award-winning cake, when you’re given inferior ingredients to work with from the grocery on a regular basis. Something that Pagano can relate to firsthand.

That being said, the Colts playoff hopes were shattered in back-to-back seasons because Indianapolis couldn’t beat the Houston Texans with either Brandon Weeden or Brock Osweiler behind center at home in respective seasons.

That’s simply not good enough.

Additionally, the Colts defense has continued to struggle against elite quarterbacks and their passing attacks–often getting blown out by the New England Patriots Tom Brady and Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger, while routinely getting off to poor starts against any, and all competition.

It doesn’t mean that Pagano is an awful head coach, as it’s hard to know exactly how good he actually is in recent seasons given the Colts lack of talent defensively.

However, he should be closer to being ranked around 16th than the ‘Top 10’ in my honest opinion–at best.

That is the definition of ‘average’ (i.e. 16th is the midpoint), and the Colts have failed to be anything more than a .500 football team for consecutive seasons–having failed to make the playoffs during each of the last two seasons.

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The Colts had Andrew Luck and played in the awful AFC South, and one could make a reasonable argument that both should’ve been enough this past season to make the playoffs–regardless of the lack of a competent defense or not.

Whatever Pagano’s ranking actually should be, it’s looking like this will be a ‘make or break’ season for him remaining as head coach going forward in Indianapolis.

Anything short of a deep playoff run (and much improved defense) could mean the end of his Colts coaching tenure.