As all Indianapolis Colts fans know, the team almost certainly has to make the playoffs in 2026 for general manager Chris Ballard and/or head coach Shane Steichen to keep their jobs beyond next season. Based on a ranking of Indy's strength of schedule, the team has no excuses for not making the postseason.
According to the NFL, the Colts have the fourth-best SOS next season at .465. That means that Indianapolis has, in theory, the fourth-easiest schedule. A path to the playoffs is right in front of Steichen and his roster, and now it all comes down to execution.
Part of the potential problem, though, is that while Indianapolis has a relatively easy schedule, so does the rest of the AFC South. The Houston Texans have the seventh-easiest, the Tennessee Titans the eighth-easiest, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have a first-place schedule due to winning the division last season, have the 11th-easiest.
Easy strength of schedule should help the Indianapolis Colts make the playoffs in 2026
That means every team in the AFC South has a chance to win more games than last season, but has to play each other twice every year. The reason for the nice schedules are because all the teams play the teams from the NFC East and AFC North.
The former had some pretty brutal teams in 2025. The New York Giants won only four games, and the Washington Commanders, who Indy will play in London in Week 4, were victorious in just five. Even the second-place Dallas Cowboys won just seven, and tied another.
Each of those teams could be quite a bit better in 2026, but that also means some other teams will be worse. The Indianapolis Colts' success won't be based just on their strength of schedule, which should be favorable even if the NFC East slightly improves, but on how well they execute against good opponents.
Shane Steichen appears to be a good offensive coach, but he is only 7-22 against teams with winning records at the time Indy has played them over the last three seasons. That is the one statistic that could be a reason to let him go if he doesn't do better next season.
Quarterback Daniel Jones also needs to come back fully healthy sooner rather than later after tearing his Achilles tendon in Week 14 last year, but he also must be better against good teams. One reason he was elite, and the Colts were 7-1 at one point, was because they were healthy, but also playing some dismal opponents.
After having three turnovers through the first eight games, the quarterback had eight (five interceptions and three fumbles lost) in the last five games. Indianapolis went 1-4 in that latter timeframe.
Still, let's assume Jones stays healthy once he comes back and gets back to being efficient. Couple that with the schedule being somewhat easy, and the Colts have a clear path to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
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