Is Chuck Pagano on the Hot Seat?
By Andrew Ites
Chuck Pagano has had an extremely up-and-down tenure as head coach of the Colts, and his job may be on the line this season.
The Chuck Pagano era in Indianapolis has been a roller coaster of emotions from the very beginning.
Pagano was diagnosed with cancer in his first season as head coach in 2011, and Bruce Arians took over as the interim and led the Colts to the playoffs with an 11-5 record. The Colts went on to have two more 11-5 seasons, including an AFC Championship Game appearance, and it looked like they were set to compete with the Patriots at the top of the conference for years to come.
The last two seasons have been major disappointments finishing 8-8 in both 2015 and 2016.
The Colts actually did pretty well to finish at .500 in 2015 with Andrew Luck missing more than half the season, but Colts fans expected more from their team last season in a wide open AFC South.
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2017 is set to be a make-or-break year for Pagano even though he signed a four-year extension just one year ago. Owner Jim Irsay said Pagano and former general manager Ryan Grigson were “contractually tied” together, but they had no issues firing Grigson about six months later.
With new general manager Chris Ballard in town, Pagano’s seat is extra hot as Ballard would prefer hiring his own head coach to lead this team.
This season will have another Andrew Luck injury asterisk as he has been officially ruled out for Week 1, and will likely miss multiple games to start the year. However, Pagano probably still needs to make a push for the playoffs if he wants to remain with this team after this season.