Getty Peter King hints that Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is "fixing to blow" with head coach Frank Reich and the team off to another slow start.
The Indianapolis Colts are off to another slow start under head coach Frank Reich this season. The Colts sit at 1-2-1 after 4 weeks, with their 2 defeats and 1 tie all coming in the AFC South.
Sportswriter Peter King of NBC Sports warns that in light of another poor beginning to a season, the patience of Colts owner Jim Irsay is running thin.
“Jim Irsay is not going to stand for this,” King wrote in his Week 4 reaction column. “He really isn’t. I can feel him fixing to blow from here.”
King isn’t alone in his warning. The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz theorized the same idea that Irsay is not going to sit quietly while the Colts continue to struggle with the same problems that have plagued the team the last couple years.
“If this trajectory continues, if this football season goes completely south as it appears to be moving, there will be changes,” Kravitz wrote. “There will be significant changes.”
Irsay Reportedly Stewing Over 0-2-1 AFC South Record
If King’s warning about Irsay’s potential blowup wasn’t enough, the NBC Sports reporter added that the Colts owner is “stewing” about being winless in the division.
“The Colts are in trouble, rushing for just 3.5 yards a carry and getting Matt Ryan beat up, and trust me, the owner is stewing over being 0-2-1 in the division,” wrote King.
Including the winless 3 games this fall, Indianapolis owns a 23-21-1 record in the AFC South since the start of the 2015 season. That mediocre division record is a big reason why the Colts haven’t won a AFC South title since 2014. In recent seasons, the Colts have struggled against Tennessee and haven’t won in Jacksonville since winning their last division crown in 2014.
Division games are so important because they essentially count twice in the standings. They also tend to be a source of bragging rights for team owners, and Irsay just hasn’t had those bragging rights much lately.
Colts Still Not Getting Past Tennessee
Indianapolis has lost 4 straight to the Tennessee Titans, and 5 of the last 6 matchups in the rivalry since Ryan Tannehill became the starting quarterback for Tennessee. It’s pretty clear that losing to the Titans really bothers the Colts owner.
“That’s how much losing to the Titans rankles the Colts’ outspoken owner,” The Athletic’s Zak Keefer wrote. “Irsay felt it essential to call an unscheduled meeting and pour out his frustrations to his employees face-to-face last September, three weeks into a season that started 0-3 after the Colts dropped another game to their division rival.”
When speaking to the media on August 17, Irsay unsurprisingly listed “winning the division” and capturing another Super Bowl title as the team’s biggest goals in 2022. The next most important objective Irsay mentioned in the same conversation was beating Tennessee.
“We know going into it, it’s about Tennessee. It’s about winning the division,” Irsay said. “It’s about going against those guys who have been very tough.”
If the Colts held the same 1-2-1 record, but the 1 victory came against the Titans, then it’s possible King and Kravitz wouldn’t be assuming Irsay is bursting at the seams with frustration. But a disappointing defeat to Tennessee doesn’t bode well for head coach Frank Reich and general manager Chris Ballard.
Frank Reich on the Hot Seat?
With the slow start to begin 2018, Reich now owns a 38-30-1 record as Indianapolis’ head coach. It’s not a bad record, but he’s led the Colts to just a 10-10-1 mark since losing in the AFC Wild Card round following the 2020 season.
During his tenure, Reich has led Indianapolis to 1 playoff win, and it came 4 years ago. And again, the Colts have no division titles under their current head coach.
Kravitz argued that Reich and general manager Chris Ballard should share equal blame for the Colts owning a non-winning record heading into Week 5 for the fourth time in 5 years. But Kravitz guessed that Reich will take more of the blame.
“You don’t disappoint the owner, not after last year’s collapse, and not pay a price,” Kravitz wrote. “Whether that’s general manager Chris Ballard or coach Frank Reich or both, somebody is going to be held responsible for the constant series of slow starts, both in the season and in games.
“The miserable starts can no longer be viewed as some sort of anomaly and somebody — I’m guessing Reich — must bear the brunt of the criticism. He tried to suggest Sunday it’s a ‘small sample size.’ It’s not. Trust me, it’s not.”
The Colts went 6-10-1 in September during Reich’s first 5 seasons, and that doesn’t include the most recent loss versus the Titans on October 2.
That September record and other sample sizes from the last 5 years is what Irsay’s probably going to be looking at, and it’s plenty large enough.