What Has Happened to the Colts?

The ball fell hopelessly to the ground. Andrew Luck lay on the turf for several moments, likely processing the full meaning of that failed play. Once again, with the season on the line and the one-dimensional Houston Texans on the verge of total collapse, the Colts failed to capitalize. That yard they couldn’t gain might as well have been 1,000 miles.

Let me know when this all sounds too familiar: In a game they absolutely, positively, had to have for any hope of salvaging this train wreck of a season, the Colts came up utterly and completely lacking. Despite a bunch of talk of a Game 7 atmosphere, and an incompetent division somehow serving everything up on a spray-painted platter, the Colts fell miserably short.

The Houston Texans, losers of three straight games and sporting an offense that would make the 1930s blush, flat out took it to the Colts. As misguided as Pagano’s “run the ball, stop the run” philosophy is, the Colts still can’t do either five years into his tenure. Houston ran over, around and right at a defense that knew exactly what was coming and still couldn’t stop it when it mattered the most.

Amid the boos of the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd as the Colts walked dejectedly off the field, what must have run through Jim Irsay’s mind? His gamble on a misguided version of continuity had blown up in his face, and his team almost certainly would miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1997-1998.

The cries from Colts Nation for Irsay to wake up and fire Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano have morphed into a dull roar. Certainly there are some fans who choose to blame one man more than the other, believing that only one should go, and still others who don’t think either should lose his job. After all, if Irsay opted to give them both contract extensions just last season, what has changed?

I submit that two things have changed. Two massive, undeniable things that have this franchise trending downward and spiraling out of control. First and foremost, a stark reality surely must have smacked Jim Irsay square in the jaw on Sunday: The fact that a “healthy” Andrew Luck is not enough to win this pitiful division. Make no mistake, Jim Irsay absolutely banked on Luck’s return being the key to regaining control of the AFC South. That and not being able to land Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh or Sean Payton last offseason. And yes, despite whatever spin control was exercised after the fact, the Colts reached out through various channels to representatives of all three men.

Jim Irsay played counselor last January 4^th and felt that Grigson and Pagano had ironed out enough of their differences that they could move forward with an improved working relationship. Combine that with the return of Andrew Luck and a completely revamped coaching staff, and Irsay believed things would turn around. What should now be abundantly clear is that they greatly overestimated Luck’s impact.

You can almost understand the thought process. Even with media claiming that the AFC South was improving rapidly, Andrew Luck was still head and shoulders above the other quarterbacks in the division. Bring in Joe Philbin to play offensive line whisperer, provide him with four new draft picks to groom, keep Luck upright and healthy, and the Colts almost had to win the AFC South. Add a new defensive philosophy of aggression and it would be enough, despite the Texans finally getting a quarterback and new stud running back.

As we have clearly learned, the Texans still don’t have a quarterback. Their new offensive weapons have made little difference, and all world defensive end J.J. Watt has missed the majority of the season. The Titans have improved, however for some reason they play their absolute worst when facing the Colts. And the Jaguars? Oh those lovable Jaguars.

Things could not have been set up any better for the Colts to take this division, yet they dropped both games to Houston and somehow, some way, fell to Jacksonville in London. The Colts continued to be perpetually injured, perpetually soft and perpetually horribly built and coached. Even with the dream situation of having Andrew Luck and playing in the AFC South, it wasn’t enough.

The second thing that’s changed? The team culture. They still make excuses with the best of them. Pagano still spits out clichés like some random quote generator, yet the failure of Ryan Grigson to build anything resembling a respectable roster has finally caught up to this team. The failure of Chuck Pagano to manage a game or hold anyone accountable, himself included, has caught up to this team. There is no depth, no playmakers on defense and no reliable offensive weapons aside from T.Y. Hilton. When this team is punched in the mouth, they continue to turtle up into a ball and crumble. When things matter the most, they continue to overpromise and underperform.

This team has become mentally and physically fragile. Unable to answer the bell and unable to get out of their own way. The repeated personnel sins of the front office and complete lack of accountability from top to bottom have resulted in a group of front-running pretenders. The problem is they never got out in front in the first place, and were inevitably exposed as pretenders.

Contending teams do not wilt when everything is on the line. They don’t give up 185 rushing yards to a team with Brock Osweiler at quarterback and only three healthy receivers active for the game. They don’t come out of a long break in action for a misguided challenge and have 12 defenders on the field. They don’t allow 13 hits to their franchise player and drop passes time and again. They don’t whiff on first round picks from 2013-2015.

After the game, T.Y. Hilton flat out claimed that guys laid down. He said the guys who were supposed to make plays didn’t. Real teams don’t lie down. They make plays when they have to be made. It wasn’t bad enough that the star receiver publicly called guys out; T.J. Green tweeted out a middle finger after the game. Judging by his previous tweets, it sure seems like that was aimed at Colts fans who had the audacity to boo and question the team’s effort. Maybe, just maybe, Green should worry about not running into kickers or giving teammates concussions while launching himself like a missile at opponent’s heads, only to miss them completely (see Kansas City/Travis Kelce/Vontae Davis).

Look, I’m not suggesting that Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano are responsible for what their players write on social media. That’s not practical. What I am absolutely, positively, suggesting is that they’ve turned this franchise into a bunch of fake tough guys who talk big before the game and disappear when it actually counts.

Those are two unforgivable sins. Sins that a team doesn’t come back from by trotting out the same dysfunctional front office and coach next season. What’s changed? Absolutely everything. And worst of all, five years into Andrew Luck’s career, he’s no closer to thriving or to a Super Bowl.

Jim Irsay is faced with an offseason that threatens to derail his franchise. Think that’s too melodramatic? Take a good look and you’ll see something creeping into Colts Nation that hasn’t been seen since the days before Peyton Manning: Apathy. Now that is the most damning thing of all.