The 2025 collapse of the Indianapolis Colts is officially complete. Indy was annihilated, even with an impressive performance from the 44-year-old Philip Rivers. This time, it was the defense that let fans down, and the Colts lost in embarrassing fashion to the San Francisco 49ers 48-27, continuing their five-game losing streak.
To make matters worse, fans got the same thing as usual from head coach Shane Steichen, the same trite, tired excuses he always makes; as usual, he took the blame and said he needs to do better. Yet between Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard, at this point, there isn't much "better" to be done.
Let's be real about the state of the Colts right now: even if the season somehow gets salvaged, it's not looking good. Indy lost its future franchise QB with Daniel Jones' Achilles rupture and has no first-round draft picks over the next two years. It's a disaster, and both Ballard and Steichen should be very, very worried.
Colts fans expected progress, but all they got was another step backward
Let's rewind to earlier in the year. Longtime Colts' owner Jim Irsay died unexpectedly, leaving his three daughters to share joint ownership. Acting as CEO would be Carlie Irsay-Gordson, and in June, she nixed any notion of giving Ballard and Steichen time to adjust to new ownership. A gap year was "unacceptable," and she had clear expectations for the season: win now.
"As my dad said before he passed, Chris and Shane know that they have things they need to fix," she said. "We talked about not micromanaging people, but also, we have a standard here, and it hasn’t been good enough."
Ballard was much more aggressive this year than he has been in the past, and to be fair, he couldn't have predicted that so many of his new players would end up on injured reserve.
But it's safe to say that this more aggressive approach was directly in response to Irsay-Gordon's warning, and seeing how poorly the season has played out, it isn't looking good for Ballard. Approximately zero fans will be sad to see him go.
But then there's Steichen, who gets more of a pass because he's seen as an offensive genius. He and Jones were on fire early in the season, and some are arguing that the problem is solely that Jones got injured. Yet the truth is, the Colts were starting to have problems a few weeks before Jones ruptured his Achilles.
Fans are once again seeing familiar issues from Steichen, where he prioritizes his playbook over what his players are capable of doing, and has a troubling pattern of sidelining his best players in favor of showing off his flashy plays. Each week, he looks less like an offensive genius and more like someone who doesn't know how to lead a team.
Both have good reason to be concerned about their future in Indianapolis. They were already on thin ice going into this season, with the Colts having struggled in recent years, but this? Ballard and Steichen have not only screwed this season, but the next few seasons, too. There's no reason to continue giving them more chances in Indianapolis.