Next season needs to be a successful one for the Indianapolis Colts. The team hasn't made the playoffs since 2020. Worse, the team hasn't been bad enough to truly need a rebuild. Being stuck in the middle is the worst kind of stuck.
One would assume that general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen need to make the postseason to keep their jobs beyond 2026. According to Indy insider Stephen Holder of ESPN, finding success, especially early, might be difficult.
Holder recently wrote, "Look for September to be rough for the Colts. The combination of Daniel Jones' return from injury and the difficult opening schedule raises the prospect of an 0-3 start for Indy, even though the Colts were an offensive juggernaut when at full strength last season. Indianapolis faces a presumably healthy Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, and the vaunted Houston defense in its three September games."
ESPN thinks an 0-3 start to next season is a real possibility for the Indianapolis Colts
While Holder is clearly correct to cause concern, there is a bit to unpack there. Both good and bad.
For one, Daniel Jones might not yet have returned to start the season for the Colts. He tore his Achilles tendon in Week 14 last season, and he might not come back until after the team travels to London to play the Washington Commanders in Week 4. Holder might have meant that Jones wouldn't yet be back through the first three weeks, though that wasn't overly clear.
Another part is the assumption that Mahomes, who tore his ACL relatively late last season, will be back in Week 2. He certainly might be, and could even be by Week 1, but nothing is guaranteed yet. Even without Mahomes, the Chiefs can be a feisty bunch, but Indianapolis could have the advantage.
As for the rest, all true. The Baltimore Ravens are obviously going to be difficult, as Lamar Jackson is going to want to prove he can lead his team to great success after the Ravens moved on from longtime head coach John Harbaugh this offseason. Jackson is the face of the franchise now, and he will get a lot of blame should Baltimore fail.
The Texans are going to be difficult, even if the Indianapolis Colts were fully healthy from last year. Houston has an elite defense that is extremely well-coached. The Texans did get off to a bad start last season, however, so maybe that happens again in 2026.
A 0-3 start for the Colts is certainly a possibility, as is a 3-0 start. Most likely, the team will be somewhere between those numbers. That said, if Indy begins 0-3, the playoffs are very unlikely, just as Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard keeping their jobs would be. That might not be an awful thing for the future of the franchise, though.
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