Assessing Colts’ Frank Reich two years in

Frank Reich has now had two full seasons as the Colts’ head coach. So far, the results have been very mixed.

2018 was a great turn around season for the Colts. They started the season a dismal 1-5  before they won nine of their last ten games to make the playoffs. They even beat Houston in the playoffs to advance a round. But they couldn’t match that success in 2019.

The team started out 5-2 and looked like they were going to continue their success from the previous season. Then they fell apart and didn’t even look like an average team out there. They finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs in a disappointing campaign.

That brings Reich’s record as head coach to 17-15. Not exactly lighting the world on fire. The problem with his teams so far has been consistency. They haven’t been able to play good football for more than a few weeks at a time. That has hurt their confidence.

There’s no doubt that Reich was dealt a tough hand when Andrew Luck abruptly retired before the season started, but that doesn’t excuse this team from falling apart down the stretch. They had played well without luck early in the year, even beating the Super Bowl-bound Chiefs in Arrowhead.

It’s still too early to make any sort of indictment on Reich’s ability to be a head coach. He has the respect of the locker room and seems to be a good leader. Those are two qualities that can’t be overlooked. But results need to come sooner rather than later for him.

I tend to believe that Reich is the right man for the job and will turn this ship around. He just needs a little more time to work his magic with whatever quarterback the team decides is the future.