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On Monday morning, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay's message was made loud and clear. The team is entering a new direction after relieving head coach Frank Reich of his duties and replacing him with interim coach Jeff Saturday for the remainder of the season.
The issue is, this decision is coming two years too late. Andrew Luck shocked the world in August 2019 after retiring from the NFL.
Frank Reich showed the world that season that he is worthy of handling the job in Indianapolis after a massive cloud of doom sat over the heads of this city. He won 7 games with a clear NFL backup in Jacoby Brissett.
That leads to Phillip Rivers, then Carson Wentz, and now Matt Ryan. The issue is that while Rivers got the Colts into the postseason in a weak division and most people knew this team was not a Super Bowl contender.
Not many can blame them for giving it a go, but knowing Rivers was on his way out the following season, why go after Carson Wentz? Reich had worked with Wentz in Philadelphia, but it was clearly not the right move.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but it was notable that after 2017, his injuries and confidence took a major toll on his play. The Colts spent a 2021 third round pick and a 2022 conditional first round pick to acquire Wentz. When the draft had a rookie quarterback class like the 2021 one was, how do you not think about investing your future draft stock into a star rookie instead of Wentz?
I’m not just saying this because I’m a Bears fan, but I’m saying this because Frank Reich would undoubtedly still be employed if the Colts moved up for a rookie in 2021. The Colts owned pick 21 in the 2021 NFL Draft. It cost Chicago pick 20, 2021 fifth, and a 2022 first to move up and draft Justin Fields. So the Colts could’ve kept their 2021 third, moved up from 21, and spent the 2022 1st that they spent on Wentz to spend on Justin Fields or even Mac Jones.
Frank Reich would undoubtedly still be head coach of the Colts, and they would still have the arrow pointing up.
Instead, the Colts hired Jeff Saturday, with no collegiate or professional coaching experience to run this team for the rest of the season. The Colts kept general manager, Chris Ballard, who followed through with these moves that created this mess.
The ultimate fall was their need for mediocrity as they believed their roster could overcome the deficiencies of their quarterbacks, but in a quarterback league, that’s nearly impossible.
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