The Indianapolis Colts had been one of the more stable franchises in football for decades — aided by a back-to-back generational talents at quarterback — but the post-Andrew Luck era has been far from stable for Indianapolis. And Monday marked the latest puzzling decision to come from owner Jim Irsay.
The Colts fired head coach Frank Reich after five seasons and just one playoff win. And in a stunning move, the Colts named ESPN NFL analyst and former Colts center Jeff Saturday as the interim head coach. Saturday’s appointment was so surprising that even the now-former colleagues at ESPN seemed shocked to read the news on the air.
This was how Hannah Storm and Jay Harris reported the Colts’ decision on SportsCenter. The “Good luck, Jeff … Indeed, indeed” basically said it all. On top of that, Louis Riddick started laughing when asked his thoughts on Saturday’s new gig.
Louis Riddick reacts on SportsCenter to ESPN NFL analyst Jeff Saturday being named interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. pic.twitter.com/GogrFILUEO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 7, 2022
Saturday, despite playing for the Colts, has no NFL coaching experience. In addition to his ESPN duties, Saturday coaches the Hebron Christian Academy football team in Dacula, Ga., where he holds a 20-16 record. Not many people leverage a modest .556 winning percentage at the high school level into an NFL coaching job. But the Colts are just weird like that.
So, yeah, you can understand the visible surprise over in Bristol.
