Few coaches appeared to be on the proverbial hot seat entering the 2026 season as much as Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen. In the offseason, owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon said the team needed to have a "sense of urgency" in the coming season, implying that changes could be made if the team fails to make the playoffs again.
Nothing that happened in Week 1 should help Steichen's argument to keep his job. Indy lost in all three phases to the Baltimore Ravens, and the 41-23 final score, though obviously not close, was not indicative of how much of a blowout the game was.
The reason the game's final score didn't look uglier was that things that happened to or were done by Baltimore, not Indianapolis. The Ravens had far too many penalties (10 total) and kept hurting themselves. Also, wide receiver Zay Flowers left before halftime with a hamstring injury, and he had already accumulated 150 receiving yards.
Shane Steichen's seat is even hotter after the Indianapolis Colts' Week 1 awfulness
If Flowers hadn't been hurt, he might have had 250 yards or more, and Baltimore might have scored 50 points or more. It was ugly.
But perhaps the worst part wasn't what happened during the game, but before it. Steichen didn't have his team ready for success. Indianapolis looked more like a college team playing a professional one, and nothing that the Colts had planned to do seemed to work.
Allowing free safety Cam Bynum to be the green dot defensively was an atrocious mistake that led to a complete communication breakdown. This began with the very first play of the game. The move was inexcusable, as the coaching staff had all of training camp and the preseason to see if having a safety in charge of relaying the defensive play calls was a wise move.
While Lou Anarumo is the defensive coordinator and definitely shares a large part of the blame, Steichen is his boss and should have been able to see that what Anarumo was on the verge of doing with Bynum was a mistake. Instead, Steichen trusted Anarumo too much, and the head coach did not act like a strong leader.
Ahead of Week 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Indy will be switching to inside linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither as the green dot. This should have been a decision made well before the start of the season.
Offensively, the Indianapolis Colts only gained 251 total yards (Baltimore had 506) and averaged 4.7 yards per play (the Ravens averaged 7.9). In 2025, 4.7 yards per play ranked 29th in the NFL over the entire season.
Steichen did not prepare his team to succeed at the start of the season. 16 games remain, at least, and not every team will be as good as Baltimore, which had a head coach, Jesse Minter, in that role for the first time in his career. He thoroughly outprepared and outcoached Steichen. But time still exists to change the narrative, though after Week 1, Shane Steichen looks as good as gone.
Current heat: 9.5
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