The Colts fired Frank Reich because he couldn't make faded quarterbacks great again
Frank Reich has been fired as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. His tenure lasted more than four seasons and featured a 40-33-1 regular season record but only one playoff win.
It’s a move that encapsulates the post-Peyton Manning era of frustration in Indiana. Reich was supposed to bring a Super Bowl-winning philosophy to an offense led by Andrew Luck.
Instead, he had only one season with the team’s franchise quarterback before his abrupt 2019 retirement. The years since dropped a rotating cast of underwhelming passers at his door and led to a bunch of teams that were good, but not nearly good enough to threaten the rest of the AFC when it mattered most.
The main surprise about Reich’s ousting is the timing. While he’s in the midst of a three-game losing streak and just got pummeled by a Patriots team with a mostly theoretical passing offense 26-3, he had team owner Jim Irsay’s support just a week earlier.
One week ago, Irsay told Mortensen and Rapoport that Reich was “safe.” This organization is a dysfunctional mess. https://t.co/G4TLfwBETa
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) November 7, 2022
Going 0-16 on third and fourth down with a second-year backup quarterback will have that effect. Reich’s fate wasn’t sealed by nine (!) Sam Ehlinger sacks in Week 9, however. He was done in by a revolving door of passers he was incapable of pushing to new heights. Reich’s epitaph was written the day Andrew Luck retired, but no one realized it until years later.
Let’s take a look back at the quarterbacks he rode with into battle, how they failed, and how this made Frank Reich 2022’s second head coach firing.