Shane Steichen may be entering his fourth season as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts on the hot seat, but according to the league’s defensive coordinators, he remains one of the best offensive minds in the NFL.
Ted Nguyen of The Athletic (subscription required) polled eight defensive coaches from around the league to create a ranking of the best offensive play callers in the league. Steichen was rated seventh-best.
This was up three spots from his 2025 finish. He was ranked as high as fourth and no lower than ninth. That may surprise some fans, both at home and throughout the league. The Colts' epic collapse over the final two months of 2025 has a tendency to overshadow just how good they were in the first half of the season.
Shane Steichen's league-wide rep as an offensive mind should help the Indianapolis Colts rebound
Steichen’s offense did not maintain the juggernaut pace it set early, and once Daniel Jones was lost, Steichen had no real answers. But on the whole, the club was only in position for that collapse because the offense had been so good. It was the Colts defense that was in need of an overhaul, as witnessed by the wholesale changes Chris Ballard has made this offseason.
When Steichen was hired in 2023, Indianapolis’ offense was in trouble. With an aging Matt Ryan under center and without the services of Jonathan Taylor for much of the year, Frank Reich’s offense looked tired and stagnant. They managed just 17 points per game, second-worst in the NFL. It cost Reich his job midway through the season.
Steichen immediately began fixing the offense. With Gardner Minshew beginning the season at quarterback and Zack Moss still filling in for Taylor, Steichen increased the points to 23.3, tenth best in the league. The team generated more than 25 extra yards per game.
The offense stayed at that level in 2024, despite highly suspect play at quarterback. Steichen still had them in the middle of the pack in terms of scoring and yardage.
Then, things exploded in 2025 with Daniel Jones. The coach and quarterback developed an instant chemistry. General manager Chris Ballard provided a quality offensive line and added Tyler Warren to the arsenal. Taylor was healthy. Alec Pierce was evolving. The Colts finished in the top ten in the league in both points and yards.
What is interesting in hearing from the league’s defensive coordinators is the way they say Steichen approaches his game plans. It is not like many of the other offensive masterminds who have pet schemes they like to run.
That isn’t to say he does not have core principles, but they tend to be broad. He will craft game plans to take advantage of a particular opponent as well, if not better than any other offensive coach in the league.
According to his rivals, Steichen looks very closely at what types of plays have hurt his opponent earlier in the season and then designs his overall game plans around getting to similar plays. He is always looking for game-changing opportunities. That may be one reason why Alec Pierce has led the league in yards-per-catch for two straight years.
But here’s the fly in the ointment. Steichen is the last of seven head coaches who occupy the top of the Athletic’s list. Then coordinators begin appearing. The six head coaches rated ahead of him – Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Ben Johnson, Matt LaFleur, Liam Coen, and Andy Reid – have won better than 62% of their regular season games as head coaches.
Steichen’s career winning percentage is below .500.
Every coach ranked ahead of him – even Johnson and Coen, who have only been head coaches for one year – has taken their teams to the playoffs. Steichen, in three seasons, has yet to reach the postseason.
The takeaway is undeniable. Shane Steichen has fixed the Indianapolis Colts offense. But thus far, he has failed to fix the Indianapolis Colts.
Rounding out the top ten is one freshly minted head coach – Klint Kubiak, in Las Vegas. And then a couple of highly respected offensive minds who struggled as head coaches. Josh McDaniels and Mike McDaniel have more in common than similar-sounding surnames.
They both have left the perception across the league that they top out as coordinators. Miami parted ways with McDaniel despite a couple of playoff trips and a regular season winning percentage better than .500.
Steichen has not even managed that level of success with the Colts, and the clock is ticking. If Indy falters again this year and the club decides it is time to move on, Steichen won’t be out of work for long. Virtually any team would want such a gifted offensive mind. They just may want him as their offensive coordinator and not as their head coach.
Add us as a preferred source on Google