Colts head coach Shane Steichen was already facing an unenviable task when they arrived at the team facility on Indianapolis’ northwest side Monday morning.
And that was before longtime GM Chris Ballard was fired.
Hours after losing to one of the NFL’s three remaining winless teams entering Week 6 despite a 13-point halftime lead, Indianapolis’ roster and coaching staff now prepare for maybe the most dominant unit this NFL season: Brian Flores’ pressure-packed, blitz-happy Minnesota Vikings defense.
And the Colts will do so, Steichen said, without any notable changes to his coaching staff, starting quarterback or defense, that failed to apply any meaningful pressure to one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.
Asked directly about the prospect of changes after what he coined an “extremely disappointing” performance Sunday with “a lot to fix, and we’ve got to fix it in a hurry,” Steichen was notably vague about the steps he’d take to turn this wayward team around in the short term.
“We always evaluate everything. We’ll get ready for this week. That’s the main thing right now, and then we’ll see where everything goes,” Steichen said.
Among the changes Steichen outright pledged not to make Monday:
>>Benching Daniel Jones, his 29-year-old quarterback with a career-worst .596 completion percentage and the second-most turnovers in the league (9), who’s been sacked more than all but four other quarterbacks (15).
>>Relieving the duties of the defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who saw his unit surrender 19 second-half points to the worst offense in the NFL or of the special teams coordinator Brian Mason whose group allowed a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a 58-yard punt return that led to the game-tying touchdown four plays later.
“The reality of the situation is we’re 2-4. We dug ourselves in a hole together and we’ve got to dig ourselves out of the hole together. That was the message,” Steichen said Monday afternoon of his tone with players earlier in the day. “The details have got to be right, and I said, shoot, my first year (coaching here), we were 3-5, and we dug ourselves out and were one play away from winning the division. It’s a similar situation, if you look at it like that, but we’ve got to put the work in to do it.”
The problem? Despite losing back-to-back games, Steichen and his players said they believe the previous week’s three practices were more than solid, from the additional ball control drills for the offense to the heightened emphasis from defenders to strip or punch the ball out. Jones has said repeatedly he has a heightened awareness of being smart in the pocket with when and how to scramble, when to throw the ball away and live for another down and when the right moments to take a risk on a 50-50 ball are.
Sunday, against a defense that produced just two turnovers and recorded 10 sacks in its first five games, Tennessee forced Jones and running back Jonathan Taylor into three total turnovers and sacked the quarterback six times.
Steichen still seems to believe execution – not those who are failing to execute – remains the problem.
“I think for the young guys, it might take a little time, but the vets understand it for sure. This is a production-based business, and you’ve got to go out there and put a product on the field that’s a winning product, and it’s the same thing with players and coaches,” Steichen said. “You’ve got to have success in this league, and if you don’t, there’s going to have to be changes made."
The obstacle staring the Colts in the face come Sunday is a well-rested, undefeated Vikings team coming off a bye with a defense that:
>>has the NFL’s leading sack percentage (9.8%)
>>has generated the 5th-most sacks (17) and the third-most turnovers (10) despite playing one fewer game than the teams ahead of them
>>the fifth-fewest rushing yards allowed per game (86.6 yards) and the third-fewest passing yards allowed per game (173.2), and
>>blitzes at nearly double the rate of the next most frequent unit (65.6% vs. 37.7%) with a league-leading pressure percentage of 36.7%
“No one’s coming to save us,” Steichen said. “It’s up to us – the guys in our locker room and the coaches – doing their jobs to the highest level they can possibly do it."
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts HC Shane Steichen: No change at QB, coaches after Titans loss, GM firing
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