Chuck Pagano will live another day as the coach of the Colts. Not only will Pagano return but even more troubling for fans is that general manager Ryan Grigson gets to keep his job.
The Colts finished 8-8 this season. Without Andrew Luck the Colts season was doomed. Sure Matt Hasselbeck began 4-0 in his first four starts but expecting a 40-year-old quarterback to guide a team which has no offensive line to speak of was foolhardy.
I will give the Colts credit they were 11-5 in the three seasons prior to this one, a combined 33-15. Ah, but those playoffs they have been tough. What’s worse then the playoffs is the Colts inability to protect Luck, a failure to draft, and wild free agent spending. Sorry the glory days of Andre Johnson and Frank Gore are over.
That's a wrap. #ChuckStays pic.twitter.com/BybJGiVHZf
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 5, 2016
Did I mention that trade for Trent Richardson in which the Colts gave up a first round pick for another team’s failed draft selection? Richardson lasted just two games into his second season with the Browns before it became clear to even them that he had weight and commitment issues. After playing 15 games for the Colts last season Richardson did not even play one down of a regular season game.
The Colts fired Pep Hamilton a week before the bye week moving Rob Chudzinski into his place. That plan worked until Luck suffered a lacerated kidney in the next game.
No one can argue that Pagano would not have been a highly sought out coach on the market. His name was being linked to nearly every projected opening before Week 17 but it almost feels as if he has run his course with the team and that it was time for both the team and the coach to start over. Worse is that the general manager who failed to give the coach the players will also be staying around.
