Although Jeff Saturday is just the interim head coach for the Indianapolis Colts, he is working to be around for the long haul.
The Jeff Saturday experiment started with a huge win over the Las Vegas Raiders back in Week 10. Following the win, there was a bit of foolish optimism surrounding the Indianapolis Colts. Despite being pretty bad all year, there was a glimmer of hope that maybe Saturday had sparked a turnaround. However, that hasn’t been the case, and Saturday and the Colts have lost three straight games since the win in Vegas.
Things haven’t been going too well for Indianapolis. They lost two one-score games, to the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, and were most recently blown out by the Dallas Cowboys. Despite these unfortunate endings in three of Saturday’s four games, he admitted that he’s still enjoying the job and that his desire to be a head coach, not just an interim, hasn’t wavered.
Saturday expressed to the media that he has been loving everything about being a coach, except losing of course, and that he has a vision for the Colts. Because of that, Jeff Saturday said he will definitely interview for the head coaching position this offseason if Indianapolis allows him to.
Follow-up: So you want to be the coach next year?
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) December 13, 2022
JS: "I plan on interviewing, as long as they give me the interview. I’ve enjoyed the heck out of this ... again, I’m not discouraged at all. I have a vision of what this could look like in the future. Plan to work that way." https://t.co/maHO80kyFR
Jeff Saturday wants to remain head coach for Colts
There wasn’t much of an interviewing process when Saturday got the interim role because Indianapolis had to make a decision fast and Jim Irsay pretty much had his mind made up on going with Saturday. However, when the team hires a coach at the conclusion of the season, there will be a full search process with several candidates.
Jeff Saturday is throwing his name into a deep and talented pool of head coaching candidates. With several emerging coordinators throughout the league and highly sought-after college coaches, Saturday likely won’t be the favorite to land the role. But, a couple of weeks ago, Saturday was an analyst for ESPN, and now he’s on Indy’s sidelines, so anything can happen.
If the eight-game stretch that Saturday is in the middle of is a tryout, it hasn’t been going all that well so far. In all fairness to Saturday though, it’s tough to say how much of his hand is in Indy’s continued failures. Under Saturday, the Colts have been competitive in games but ultimately lose because of poor offensive line play, turnovers, and bad late-game defense. All those things are the same problems that plagued the team when Frank Reich was in charge during the first half of the year.
That makes it unclear how exactly Indianapolis will evaluate Saturday’s interim stint. He does have at least four more games as head coach, and those games could greatly impact his chances of becoming Indy’s official head coach this offseason.
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