Colts’ Frank Reich Denies Importance to Beating Chiefs

After yet another slow start to a season and 24-0 loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL media was placing Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich on the chopping block.

Oh, what a difference a week can make.

Reich temporarily silenced his critics in Week 3 by leading the Colts to a surprising 20-17 upset victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The victory could prove to be a turning point to Indianapolis’ season. The team still has a long way to go, but if that becomes the case, and one believes Reich was indeed getting closer to the chopping block after the rough start to 2022, beating the Chiefs could prove to be important for Reich’s job in Indianapolis too.

But Reich didn’t want to talk about any of that after the game. He declined to answer how big of a deal it was for him personally to defeat Kansas City.

“It’s all about the team. It’s all about – that’s really all we care about,” Reich told the media during his postgame press conference. “That’s all I care about. That’s really all I care about.

“This team and these guys.”

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Reich Approaching Every Game as a Must-Win

During his postgame press conference, Reich also faced questions about whether the Colts needed to win in Week 3. Reich downplayed that as well, going for one of his typical clichés.

“You know, what the guys were talking about yesterday is every win is a must-win in this league,” said Reich.

Interestingly, his players chose not to minimize how important beating the Chiefs was.

“After last week’s performance, we needed it. The team needed it,” center Ryan Kelly said to reporter Akeem Glaspie of The Indianapolis Star. “It’s not always pretty in the NFL, but we beat the Chiefs at home, it’s awesome.”

“It’s a long season. We needed a win. We knew that,” cornerback Stephon Gilmore told the media after the victory. “We knew what we were capable of. We knew what happened last week and why we didn’t win, so we fixed some things. It will be good to watch the film and get better and move on to next week.”

With the win, the Colts improved to 1-1-1, and are now 1 of 28 NFL teams with 1 or 2 victories after Week 3 (as of September 26).

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Reich Moving on to Tennessee

The Colts coach didn’t steal Bill Belichick’s famous, “On to Cincinnati” line. But he might as well have.

As pleased as Reich was following Indianapolis’ first victory of the 2022 season, he emphasized that it will soon be time to move onto the next game. Up next for the Colts is their division rival and the 2021 AFC No. 1-seeded Tennessee Titans.

“It’s one game. We’ve got another big one next week, so we’ve got to put this one behind us,” Reich told the media. “We’ve got to come in Monday, really you want as a head coach to get in the locker room, to get up here and say the same thing, win or lose.

“Let’s study the tape, let’s get better, let’s find ways to win, let’s find ways to become the team that we envision ourselves that we can be.”

As Reich and the Colts saw on September 25, one week in the NFL can be very different than the next.

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