INDIANAPOLIS – The record is 11-21 without Andrew Luck.
That’s the reality of the Indianapolis Colts since Chris Ballard took over in 2017.
“It will never be about one guy,” was the phrase Ballard used, at the GM’s opening press conference in January 2017, when talking about Luck.
So far though, the record is pretty ugly without that ‘one guy.’
Some valid reasons do exist for that record being so poor, but things need to change in a hurry because a .344 winning percentage isn’t appeasing anyone.
Unlike the previous era (in which the Colts were actually 6-4 in games Luck missed), this regime has not been able to figure life out when the former No. 1 overall pick hasn’t been under center.
The result has been more watching of the postseason.
Darius Leonard doesn’t mince words in describing how he views the 2019 campaign, in which the Colts finished 7-9 and were eliminated from the playoffs with two weeks left in the regular season.
“For a team to not make the playoffs, you are considered a sorry team,” Leonard said earlier this offseason to Colts.com. “There’s no sugarcoating it. You sucked. Last year we sucked, and we got to make sure we don’t feel that feeling again. We have to grind and we have to do everything we can to make the playoffs.
“If we don’t make the playoffs, it’s a bust for us…you suck if you don’t make the playoffs.”
A missed postseason in 2020 would mean the Colts have not made the playoffs in 5 of 6 seasons. The franchise hasn’t experienced in more than 25 years.
If 2020 ends with another season at .500 or worse, it would mark the worst stretch for the franchise in the history of the Colts in Indianapolis.
While Luck’s retirement was shocking, life in the NFL moves right along without anyone feeling sorry for your circumstances. And for the Colts believing they had still had a top-20 starting QB in Jacoby Brissett taking over, they still couldn’t muster a .500 season.
The rest of the AFC South has had more moments in the postseason over the last handful of years than the Colts.
When the Colts were in very solid position at the mid-way point of the 2019 season, their GM knew his team was playing with fire in one possession game after one possession game.
Eventually, they got burned.
“I felt like sometimes we were playing not to lose and that’s easy to say as you look back at the season because the NFL season is hard, man,” center Ryan Kelly says. “It’s a grind for every single person – coaches, players, families. It’s all really tough. That’s kind of been Frank’s message (in the spring), it’s how you look at the game. It wasn’t that we weren’t giving an incredible effort or that we didn’t play with technique or we weren’t finishing. It’s just in certain situations I felt like we were just playing to not lose as to playing to win.”
-Is Philip Rivers the difference?
-Is DeForest Buckner the difference?
-Is another year of Ballard’s roster building and Reich’s coaching the difference?
Whatever happens, the time is now for the Colts to get back to playing meaningful football in January.
