Chuck Pagano is in his sixth season as the Colts’ head coach, and there’s growing talk that it should and will be his last.
After the Colts were embarrassed 27-0 by the Jaguars yesterday, much of Indianapolis is calling for Pagano’s dismissal, and the strongest case for Pagano’s firing may come from longtime Colts observer Bob Kravitz, who argues that Pagano should be fired today, rather than waiting until the end of the season.
Kravitz argues that the players have quit on Pagano, citing several plays on which players didn’t appear to be hustling. When T.Y. Hilton pointed the finger at the offensive line after the game, that also indicated that Pagano may have lost the locker room.
Pagano is far from the only one deserving blame for the Colts’ 2-5 record. Colts owner Jim Irsay is the one who insisted in January that the Colts didn’t need another quarterback because Andrew Luck would heal from surgery in time for the start of the season. And Colts G.M. Chris Ballard is the one who waited until September to trade for Jacoby Brissett, even though it had been obvious for months that Luck’s shoulder was healing more slowly than Irsay’s initial timeline.
But Irsay isn’t going to fire himself, and he isn’t going to fire the G.M. he just hired this year, either. So if someone is going to go, it’s going to be Pagano. And given the way the Colts are playing, someone’s got to go.