Chris Ballard was fired by the Indianapolis Colts on Monday. Hours later, head coach Shane Steichen gave his normal day-after-game press conference, and he first explained that Ballard was not the only problem in Indy and then doubled down on what the current problem is. Steichen completely failed.
His answer to Ballard being fired was to do, well...nothing. He gave the same robotic answers about how the team needs to play better and blah blah blah. He also said that quarterback Daniel Jones will remain the starting quarterback. Fine. Sure, Jones has been awful, and Steichen could have switched to Anthony Richardson simply to see if things would change, but no.
Steichen, who seemingly oversees the entire team but really just the offense, it appears, said that defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo will continue to call the defensive plays. Sure, that's worked well (only it hasn't). The head coach could have decided that a defensive change was needed because he's the head coach, after all, but no.
According to Shane Steichen, the Indianapolis Colts must be just fine
This was Steichen's one chance as the leader of the on-field product to acknowledge that things are going so poorly that the general manager got fired because of what's happening, but Steichen decided all is pretty much OK. No changes are needed. The team just lost to the winless Tennessee Titans and is 2-4 (and likely 2-5 after playing the Minnesota Vikings in Week 7), but it's fine.
That is the bottom line of Shane Steichen's message: It's fine. The team is fine. The players are fine. Things just need to be cleaned up. Sure.
The team will soon have a new general manager, of course. Chris Ballard was fired after nine years on the job, and the new GM will have a coaching staff decision to make. Keep Steichen, who is 7-25 against teams that are .500 or better, or bring in a coach who doesn't believe all is fine when people around him are losing their jobs.
But what did we really expect? Shane Steichen has offered the same uninspiring answers to questions after losses for three-plus seasons now, and you know what has changed? Nothing. As long as Steichen is leading the team, nothing is going to change.
He is capable of goodness as an offensive coordinator, but he isn't a leader of an entire team. If he were, a defensive change would have happened. To Steichen, the status quo is what's best because change is bad. You know what else is bad? The Indianapolis Colts as a team and Shane Steichen as a head coach.
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