After another disappointing loss for the Indianapolis Colts, Frank Reich’s seat went from warm to red hot heading into Week 3.
Disappointing. That is the only word that can explain the start of the 2022 NFL season for the Indianapolis Colts. The team looked absolutely horrid and there was nothing to show for improvement after a Week 1 tie to the Houston Texans.
Frank Reich‘s team didn’t even appear to come out to play in Jacksonville, which continues to be an issue starting the season in this era of Colts football. The last time Indy won in Jacksonville was in 2014 before Reich took over as head coach.
The first drive of the game resulted in a bad interception off a horrible read from quarterback Matt Ryan. This isn’t just poor decision-making by the quarterback, this is bad coaching as the first couple of drives should be scripted.
All that was said during the offseason was “All chips in,” yet the Colts have not shown how many chips they are playing with. Did Indianapolis already lose the chips it had?
The Colts have been struggling for a while
Since the Christmas night matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis has gone 0-3-1. Two of those games at the end of the season would have clinched a playoff berth had Indy won.
Indianapolis opened the 2022 season against two relatively easy divisional matchups. Over the last few years, the Jaguars and Texans have finished at the bottom of the league. These should have been easy warmup games before heading home to take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Many will blame this loss on the injury report, in which the Colts were missing Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce, and Shaquille Leonard. But three players aren’t the entire team. The team just could not get moving on offense and the defense could not make a stop.
Trevor Lawrence continues to own Indianapolis in just his second season as the quarterback for the Jaguars.
The Colts are entering a tough stretch of games
The schedule is tough to start, but the entire season is tough. If Indianapolis could have won in the first two weeks, Indy could afford a loss or two over the next few weeks.
In Week 3, the Colts play against the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs, followed by the Tennessee Titans. After those two games, they fly to Denver to play Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos before we see the Jaguars in Indianapolis.
If the Colts walk into the Jaguars game at 0-4-1, there should be no reason that Frank Reich still has a job. At this rate, Indy is looking at an 0-4-1 start to the season. Frank has shown nothing to give Colts fans a glimpse of hope.
I don’t care if it’s after this game or after the season. The Frank Reich-Chris Ballard era needs to end by 2023
— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) September 18, 2022
I had hoped that the Colts could squeak something of an improvement in this week’s game, but they had two drives into the red zone in the fourth quarter that resulted in zero points.
There is nothing looking good for Indy right now, and the Frank Reich era needs to come to an end by the end of the season. Colts owner Jim Irsay is not big on making mid-season changes, but this might need to happen. The Colts have not looked like this since the end of the Pagano-Grigson era.
It looks like Indy fans are witnessing the end of the Reich-Ballard era right now.
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