5 biggest success stories for the Indianapolis Colts in 2023

3. Shane Steichen's performance

When you have a first-year head coach, expectations have to be held in check just a little bit. It appeared to be a bit of a too-good-to-be-true scenario, hire the offensive coordinator of a team that just made the Super Bowl in the Philadelphia Eagles, would that translate to success at the head coaching level? There are no questions now, Shane Steichen can coach, and this team has found themselves with a leader that can weather the storm.

He kept this team winning despite all that was going on around them, including having to see your starting quarterback be out for the year. Not a lot of head coaches can lead a team to success following injuries like that, Kevin Stefanski was really the only other coach who may have handled quarterback trouble better than Steichen all year. The Colts' leader almost found himself in the Coach of the Year talks, but falling just short of the postseason will take you out of that conversation.

Overall, Colts fans have to be happy with how he was able to make things work with so many moving parts on both sides of the ball. He is creating an offense that Richardson is going to find success in throughout his career, and if another quarterback has to step in he can create something that they can succeed in. His aggressive playcalling is also something to be impressed by, as this team will play some exciting football going forward.

There may be some fair criticism about how he handled his timeouts at the end of the Texans game, but no first-year head coach is perfect with that, even the greatest coaches take years to perfect that. But overall, there is not much left to be desired when it comes to Steichen, so that hope is important for Colts' fans.