The Indianapolis Colts stood pat with their GM and head coach in the belief that the season-ending injury to Daniel Jones derailed their season. They couldn't have been more wrong, and that decision will cost them in 2026 and beyond.
The standard view on the Indianapolis Colts' season is that they were a team on the rise. Led by the surprising revival of former New York Giants castoff Daniel Jones, Indianapolis streaked to an 8-2 record. I have to think that even head coach Shane Steichen was surprised that his team led the league in scoring.
Then the wheels came off when Jones went down. At least, that seems to be the revised version. Why else would both GM Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen be retained into the 2026 season? Somehow, it's escaped the attention of far too many Colts fans - and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon - that the team was spiraling to the turf long before they lost Jones.
Daniel Jones wasn't the Indianapolis Colts savior and neither is Steichen
Did Jones have a good season? Yes, I'm not about to dispute that. The question isn't if he was good; the real question, the only one that matters, is if he was good enough to lead the Colts to the playoffs. There's no way for anyone who actually paid attention to say that he was.
It's painfully obvious that the same is true of Shane Steichen. He is at best a mediocre coach, as noted by ESPN analyst Bill Barnwell. A 7-22 record against teams over .500 is hardly the resume of a coach who's ready to take his team to the postseason, now is it? Yet that's Steichen's record, and that has nothing to do with Jones' injury.
Sure, that 8-2 record looked great - but who did they beat? Yes, they beat one of the conference's best teams, the Broncos, but it was only due to a fluke penalty that gave the Colts a second chance at the winning field goal. Other than that, Indianapolis beat the Chargers. And those were the only two teams with a winning record that Steichen and Jones defeated.
In the losses to the Rams and Steelers, Jones threw two touchdowns against five interceptions and was sacked seven times. He was better in the losses versus the Chiefs and Texans, but Indianapolis only put up 20 and 16 points, respectively. Hanging 40 on the Titans and Raiders is fine, but you need points against the good teams, too.
That failure isn't all on Jones. Steichen needs to take the lion's share of the blame. Once teams figured out that all they had to do was contain Jonathan Taylor, the Colts' season was over. 76 yards against the Rams, 45 versus the Steelers.
After he mauled the Falcons for 244 yards and three scores, every other opponent clamped down on him. He never broke 90 yards in the Colts' final seven games. Shane Steichen never figured out the scheme he needed to overcome that simple solution. Sell out against the run and dare Jones to beat you. His stats looked alright, but the scoreboard told the truth.
As for Philip Rivers, he played better than anyone could have expected. He actually put enough points on the board to beat the 49ers (27), but the defense fell apart. And why exactly did the Colts have to make a desperation move to bring a 44-year-old quarterback out of retirement? Backup Anthony Richardson was lost for the season before Week 6.
If the team wasn't confident that Riley Leonard could step in when needed, why did they wait until Jones was injured to bring in a backup they trusted? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Leonard was battling a knee injury by then. That's still on Chris Ballard for not getting the Colts the best personnel possible. That's been his flaw for a decade now.
Neither Steichen nor Ballard has been awful at their jobs. But is that the standard Colts fans deserve? Is it good enough to have leadership that isn't terrible? Sure, the Colts are better off than teams like the Jets or the Browns. But if that's the bar, well, good luck making the postseason again.