Colts fire Frank Reich after four-plus seasons in Indianapolis; Jeff Saturday named interim head coach

The Indianapolis Colts have made a serious transfer, as team owner Jim Irsay announced Monday that that they had fired head coach Frank Reich. The Colts sit in second place within the AFC South with a 3-5-1 report. The ultimate nail within the coffin for Reich was Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the New England Patriots, as Irsay had apparently seen sufficient.

Reich went 40-33-1 as Colts head coach in his 4 and a half seasons. He completed second within the division thrice, and went 1-2 within the postseason. The Colts tried practically every part to spark the group this season. They benched quarterback Matt Ryan for Sam Ehlinger and fired offensive coordinator Marcus Brady lower than per week in the past. Nonetheless, the group struggled.

In an surprising transfer, the Colts introduced that that they had employed former middle Jeff Saturday as interim head coach. A franchise legend, Saturday performed 13 seasons in Indy, and was a six-time Professional Bowler and four-time All-Professional. He was additionally a member of the Tremendous Bowl XLI group. After retiring following the 2012 season, Saturday joined ESPN as an analyst.  

The Colts have the sixth-worst offense within the league (315.1 yards of whole offense per recreation), and the third-worst speeding offense (86.7 speeding yards per recreation) regardless of ending final season with the second-best speeding offense. Indianapolis additionally averages the fewest factors per recreation within the NFL this season with 14.7.

In Sunday’s loss to the Patriots, the Colts went an astounding 0 of 14 on third downs, and 0 of two on fourth downs. Solely three groups had gone 0 of 14 on third downs in a single recreation since 1991. Ehlinger threw for simply 103 yards and a choose six, whereas the Colts rushed for simply 78 yards. 

Simply over per week in the past, Irsay mentioned that he was giving no thought to firing Reich or Colts common supervisor Chris Ballard. 

“I am in a terrific spot with Chris and Frank,” Irsay mentioned, via ESPN. “We’re all re-energized with the transfer to Sam Ehlinger. Nothing is straightforward however really feel actually good.”

Reich, 60, a former NFL quarterback, was the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator throughout the group’s Tremendous Bowl run and took over because the Colts’ head coach for Chuck Pagano. However Andrew Luck’s surprising retirement in August 2019 created a revolving door at quarterback ever since.

Reich was employed to be the Colts’ head coach on Feb. 11, 2018 — simply 5 days after Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left the group on the altar. The Colts had introduced McDaniels as their new coach, however hours later he modified his thoughts and determined to remain in New England. Apparently sufficient, the Colts are scheduled to play McDaniels’ Las Vegas Raiders this week, the primary time they will face him as a head coach because the fiasco. 

Reich is the second NFL head coach to be fired this season. Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was relieved of his duties final month.