INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts opened this season seemingly content to rebuild behind a first-time head coach and a rookie quarterback. Their top rusher was hurt and mired in an ugly contract dispute and their defensive leader was taking limited snaps.

Inside the team complex, though, nobody wrote off this season — certainly not after missing the playoffs three straight times.

And now, entering the bye week, the Colts find themselves sitting at 5-5 and one of the bigger surprises in the AFC playoff mix.

“It’s just a confidence boost knowing we have a realistic push to make a playoff run,” two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said after Sunday’s win in Germany. “We have a lot of guys who are banged up, and we have this bye week to really recover and get our bodies right to make this push.”

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Colts officially hire Shane Steichen as next head coach

INDIANAPOLIS — There will be no change of heart this time.

The Colts have their man.

Indianapolis has officially hired Shane Steichen as head coach, signing the Eagles offensive coordinator to the dotted line Monday night, the day after Philadelphia’s heartbreaking 38-35 loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII.

The Colts will formally introduce Steichen in the coming days, giving Indianapolis its first chance to hear the new coach’s plans.

Insider: 10 thoughts on why the Colts went after Steichen

Steichen, the youngest Colts coach in Indianapolis history at age 37, was first revealed as the team’s top target at noon on Super Bowl Sunday, after it was reported the team notified the rest of a deep pool of candidates that the Colts had made a final decision.

Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard, determined to avoid repeating the mistakes that led to Josh McDaniels backing out on the Colts at the eleventh hour in 2018, cast a much wider net this time, initially interviewing 13 candidates, then bringing in eight for lengthy second interviews that included one-on-one time with Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay and work on specific game situations, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.

Because Steichen was getting ready for the Super Bowl, he was the final in-person interview, and it took place in Philadelphia, right before the Eagles departed for Arizona.

While Steichen got ready for Kansas City’s defense, the Colts finalized their decision and found the man they want to take over for interim coach Jeff Saturday. The legendary former Indianapolis center had gone 1-7 as the team’s head coach after being plucked off of ESPN’s airwaves to take over for Frank Reich, who had a 40-33-1 record in four-plus seasons. Reich has already been hired as the head coach in Carolina.

Steichen spent two years with Reich in San Diego and forged a tight relationship with Reich’s primary protégé, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. That likely provides some continuity for the franchise, not only because of his link to the previous staff but because of his links to the current one.

Building half of a Colts coaching staff

The Colts have kept defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and the rest of his staff from taking interviews for lateral moves, intent on preserving momentum from a defense that played well until the magnitude of the team’s collapse dragged down the numbers in December and January.

Steichen knows Bradley well.

“I’ve got a ton of respect for Gus Bradley,” Steichen told Philadelphia reporters in November. “I worked with him for four years in L.A. Hell of a football coach, hell of a human being.”

 

By retaining Bradley, Steichen would presumably only have to assemble his offensive assistants, cutting the hard work of filling out the coaching staff in half and allowing him to start implementing his vision for the Colts.

Steichen hasn’t spoken much about his head coaching philosophy.

For the past couple of months, Steichen has shut down an increasing number of questions about the possibility, even as the Eagles’ success sent his star skyrocketing and made him an interview target for three teams: the Colts, Panthers and Texans.

But Steichen has also been an offensive coordinator for three seasons, one with the Chargers and two with the Eagles. Pieces of his coaching philosophy have inevitably been part of his meetings with the media, particularly how to develop quarterbacks and offenses, skills that will be critical in Indianapolis.

Shane Steichen and Philip Rivers

Nearly a decade of working with Philip Rivers taught Steichen how a quarterback should approach the game.

When Rivers moved on to Indianapolis in 2020 and Steichen was promoted to offensive coordinator full-time, he used the lessons he’d learned from Rivers to develop Justin Herbert into the NFL’s Rookie of the Year.