There will be no major changes in leadership for the Colts, owner and CEO Jim Irsay has shared following the conclusion of the 2024 season.
In a letter to fans, Irsay wrote, “I know you share my impatience and frustration…More than anything, we want to reward you with division titles and playoff runs and we’ve fallen short in the most painful ways possible.”
Since hiring general manager Chris Ballard, the Colts have been as average as can be, with no division titles in over 11 years and just two playoff appearances (only one win) to show for it. More than once the Colts have been on the doorstep of a playoff berth, but couldn’t come through when it mattered most.
Irsay continued to write that he’s “evaluated our entire operation, and I believe in Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen and our collective ability to make the improvements needed to take us to the next level in 2025.”
It’s a message which comes swiftly after fans called for Ballard to be fired during the Colts’ week 18 overtime win over the Jaguars, a meaningless game as both teams were already eliminated from the playoffs. So, this move is unlikely to be well-received.
Still, it’s not a surprising outcome. Steichen, a hire made by Ballard, just completed his second season in charge. It was a season filled with defensive struggles, indecision over the quarterback position and an overall lack of consistency from the top down.
Steichen was always expected to stay, and he will in fact remain with the Colts, looking to turn quarterback Anthony Richardson into the player that he and Ballard drafted him to be.
Ballard gets what is likely his final chance to get things right. After the bold decision to make few changes to last year’s squad, which came within a game of the wild card, it was clear Ballard was walking on thin ice.
“If (my approach) gets me fired, so be it,” he said back in August following initial roster cuts. His gamble didn’t pay off, and it seemed like Ballard reached the end of the road.
But, Irsay decided otherwise. How Ballard survived, nobody will really know.
With Irsay’s decision comes a clear message to his general manager: make the playoffs, or pack it up.
For a general manager who’s best finish in the AFC was sixth in 2018 (at the time, the last team in the playoffs), it will be a challenge to assemble a legitimate playoff roster of players who can compete for hardware.
Ballard’s Colts haven’t achieved any level of dominance, in their division or conference in his eight years at the helm. It’s the 55-year-old’s job to elevate Indianapolis out of the lull of mediocrity that’s restricted them since his arrival.
