According to new team owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon, the sense of urgency for the Indianapolis Colts \u201chas never been higher\u201d following another late season collapse that saw her franchise lose 7 straight games and be eliminated from playoff contention yet again\u2014after such a promising 8-2 start.<\/p>\n
As you may likely recall, the Colts have not made the playoffs since 2020, which was the COVID-19 year.<\/p>\n
That added pressure will fall squarely on the shoulders of her top leadership, longtime general manager Chris Ballard, who\u2019s entering Year 10 with the franchise, and soon-to-be 4th-year head coach Shane Steichen\u2014both of whom Irsay-Gordon announced will return for at least the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n
Ballard is entering the last year of his current contract, which Irsay-Gordon remains undecided on a potential extension<\/a>, while Steichen is signed with the Colts through 2028 on his rookie head coaching deal.<\/p>\n Regarding newfound optimism for Ballard, despite a lack of consistent meaningful results to-date, with just 1 playoff win and 0 division titles in his lengthy tenure, she commended him for adapting and adjusting his approach <\/a>\u2014presumably hinting at his rare aggressiveness in the first tiers of free agency last offseason.<\/p>\n Irsay-Gordon opened by thanking the fans for their continued support, and that she and her sisters were \u2018pissed off\u2019 at the results, which simply weren\u2019t good enough this season.<\/p>\n She noted that it was a tale of two halves of the 2025 season, after injuries obliterated the Colts\u2019 playoff hopes, but that there were a lot of encouraging signs prior to the franchise\u2019s latest second half, late season collapse.<\/p>\n She reiterated that the Colts losing 7 straight games was unacceptable, and that the team will need to find a better way to finish games late and overcome adversity\u2014turning to both Ballard and Steichen this offseason to fix the re-occurring critical issues that plagued the team later in the season and their frustrating inability to close out games.<\/p>\n Irsay-Gordon noted that injured starting quarterback Daniel Jones came in with a chip on his shoulder and had something to prove, giving his teammates hope in the process, before suffering his season-ending Achilles injury\u2014which she answered that it wouldn\u2019t be appropriate to comment on further. <\/a><\/p>\n