Retour
The Indianapolis Colts were selling a pipe dream to their fan base. A hot start to the 2025 season saw them trade for Sauce Gardner and invest in Daniel Jones as the franchise’s long-term solution.
However, a collapse at the end of the year was the first sign of how bad things were about to get. Now, starting the 2026 campaign at 2-4, they suffered a horrifying loss to the previously winless Tennessee Titans squad. As a result, fans want drastic, top-down changes across the organization.
In the last two seasons, the Titans won a combined six games. This year, they started 0-5 before taking on the Colts in Week 6. A surprising back-and-forth matchup saw a blocked punt returned for a touchdown.
That proved to be a huge difference-maker as the Titans walked away with a 26-20 victory. For the illustrious Colts fan base, it was an inexcusable loss.
As a result, they didn’t want anyone, from the head coach to the general manager, to be safe in their role.
“Chris Ballard should be fired after today,”one fan wrote, as he further counted, “Shane Steichen should be fired after today. Daniel Jones should be benched after today. What else am I missing?”
For one fan,the biggest name that needed to go was Ballard, as he argued, “Chris Ballard needs (to be) fired today so the Colts can trade assets prior to the deadline. He will go down with the ship if they don’t move on from him before. Fire him now.”
Trevor Knapp was also convinced that it was an unfixable situation as he claimed, “This is officially rock bottom, and quite frankly, it might be for the best. Ballard & Steichen shouldn’t survive another week, and I wouldn’t even let Shane get to the podium. Daniel Jones needs to also be benched immediately.”
The former New York Giants quarterback finished with 269 passing yards and a touchdown. But he also gave up 2 interceptions to continue his trend of more interceptions than touchdowns, as he stood at number 31 on PFN’s Quarterback Impact Metric.
“Worst loss of the Shane Steichen era and one of the worst losses of Chris Ballard’s tenure as well,” James Boyd of The Athletic announced. “Nothing anyone says would be hyperbolic. This team is terrible. Everyone should be embarrassed.”
He, too, believed, “Jobs being lost feels like a matter of when not if.”
As the Titans hit a final field goal to take their total to 26 points, it was easy to see barren stands as fans had driven out of the stadium in a hurry. Unfortunately for those in charge, the ones remaining didn’t have much positivity about the team either.
“The few Colts fans who are left in the stand are chanting ‘FIRE BALLARD,'”Stephen Holder noted.
One fan made his request directly to Carlie Irsay-Gordon, who had taken a hands-on approach with the franchise, making herself available on the sidelines during games.
“Carlie, don’t let these fools make a mockery of you,” the fan wrote. “Set an example. Fire them. They deserve it.”
For a team that had seen the highs of the NFL under the likes of Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, fans were upset with the quality of football they were witnessing this season.
As a result,one fan didn’t mince words as he claimed, “Time to clean house, Indy. Give us fans what we [expletive] deserve. Absolutely [expletive] pathetic showing today.”
It remains to be seen whether the franchise makes the changes the fan base is vocally demanding. At 2-4, their hopes of being in the playoff race are waning in a hurry. And if they can’t turn things around, major adjustments could become necessary for the team.