Many Indianapolis Colts fans want general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen to be gone. The team needs to do some kind of quick rebuild in terms of non-players to get back to making the playoffs every season. Yet, Indy ownership keeps both men employed.
Steichen can only do with what is given to him by Ballard. He hasn't done well with that, though. The coach is 7-22 against teams with winning records at the time his team has played those opponents. That is too big a sample size to dismiss.
The real blame for Indianapolis not making the playoffs since 2020 should lie with Ballard, however. Since he took the GM role for the Colts in early 2017, only twice has Indianapolis been in the postseason. Many executives would have already been let go.
Indianapolis Colts maybe missing Daniel Jones to start the season shouldn't save Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen
Indianapolis making the playoffs in 2026 might be a stretch, too. The team is likely still trailing the Houston Texans, as Houston probably got even better this offseason, and maybe the Jacksonville Jaguars. Indy's opening stretch to the season (versus the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, and Texans) is brutal.
But what really might be the built-in excuse for Ballard and Steichen is that they could be facing those opponents without quarterback Daniel Jones. He might miss the first few weeks of the season while he finishes recovering from a torn Achilles tendon in Week 14 last season.
Maybe Anthony Richardson or Riley Leonard are fine in Jones' place, but the Colts re-signed Jones for two years and as much as $88 million for a reason: He is expected to be the starter and a good one. Without him, one might assume the offense would be less efficient and the team not as good.
Let's sadly assume that the Indianapolis Colts lose their first three games and begin the season 0-3. While a team can make up that ground over the rest of the season, the AFC South is difficult, so Indy getting to the playoffs after that start might prove impossible.
Ownership has clearly been against firing Chris Ballard, and that is a throughline between the late Jim Irsay and his daughters. The family wants to give Ballard the benefit of the doubt, even though he hasn't been able to build rosters that result in successful teams.
The GM gets credit for drafting well, and appears to have done so in 2026, too, but those drafts haven't meant the team would make the playoffs. That needs to be remembered if the Colts fall short of the postseason again, and missing Daniel Jones during a tough stretch to the season shouldn't be used as an excuse.
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