The Indianapolis Colts decided to double down on a press conference held by co-owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon just a day after the regular season ended. The odd part is that the memo the ownership group sent on Tuesday was everything Irsay-Gordon said in her presser. Obviously, Indy owners are a bit lost in how to handle their messaging.
The problem is that the owners are straining to give fans what they want, but it feels disingenuous. Fans are upset about how the season went, sure. A promising 7-1 start led to an 8-9 finish. The team missed the playoffs again.
Injuries took a toll. The schedule got much tougher in the second half and might have exposed the Colts for who they really were. A midseason trade that saw Indianapolis give up far too much for Sauce Gardner did not work out immediately, and it needed to. Many reasons existed for another lost season.
Indianapolis Colts owners double down on poor effort to make fans feel better
Fans can live with different reasons in hindsight for a losing season, but the frustration comes from the Colts' ownership group not truly doing anything to address the situation. Their thinking is clearly, "How do we improve things? We run them back again."
In the memo, Carlie Irsay-Gordon and her sisters wrote, in part, "Dear Colts Fans: Like you, we’re without a doubt frustrated with the final results of the season. Until we win consistently, claim the division, and reach the playoffs, we’re not meeting the high standard we all expect out of our team. At the same time, there were many moments in 2025 that led us to believe we can achieve sustained success. That’s why we’re confident about the blueprint Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen created last year, and why we’re confident they can build on the progress we saw early on this past season."
What the Indianapolis Colts ownership group isn't understanding is that fans don't view one season without seeing an overview. If Chris Ballard was relatively new to the job, then what happened in 2025 would be forgivable. One cannot control when injuries happen, for instance, but one also has to assume they will occur.
But Ballard has had his job for nine years, so he has had plenty of time to make Indy into a consistent winner. He has failed. The team hasn't won a division title in his time with the team, and has made the playoffs just twice. The team hasn't been in the postseason in five years, so 2025's early-season success was an outlier, not a guarantee of things to come with Ballard in charge.
The memo went on to say, "We know many fans want change now, and we hear, respect, and understand the frustration. But make no mistake — the urgency to succeed and win has never been higher, and we believe we can compete for the division and a playoff berth next season and into the future."
The urgency part is ridiculous and meaningless. Every single season should have a sense of urgency. Otherwise, the implication is that the Indianapolis Colts are fine with not being good for a year or two, but making a greater effort in another season.
To be fair, the daughters of Jim Irsay have only been on the job for a year. Still, there is no learning curve in the NFL. Indianapolis Colts fans spend their hard-earned money on tickets and merchandise every season. The time to win hasn't suddenly come now. It came nine years ago when the team made the mistake of hiring Chris Ballard.