If you call yourself a real sports fan, or more particularly, an American football fan, you have likely heard that the NFL team, the Indianapolis Colts, has fired their head coach mid-season. You’ve likely also heard that an interim head coach has quickly been named since the season isn’t over, and a head coach is required.
As with every firing and hiring of such a nationally known team, there are no doubt a great many fans, either of the team itself or just the sport, that are unhappy with the move. This one is no different. But the reason some are coming up with seems a little bizarre, or at least like quite a long stretch.
So what are they claiming?
Well, according to some in mainstream media, this is nothing more than a racist move by a racist team and a racist league. All because a white coach was fired, and the guy replacing him also happens to be white.
Now, I’m not saying that race can’t be used as a reason for such in some circumstances. After all, there is an entire “rule” in the NFL to mitigate the likelihood of such. However, given the facts of these two coaches, I don’t really see that as truth here.
To explain this, we need a little background on both first.
We’ll start with the recently fired Frank Reich. He was fired on Monday after a Sunday loss to the New England Patriots, 26-3. As you can likely tell by that score and the fact that the Colts lost, again, the team is not having a spectacularly good year. But neither have the last four years, all of which Reich has been the head coach.
According to game stats, Reich ended his career in Indianapolis with a record of 40-33-1. While he never lost more than nine games in any season, he also never won more than eleven, leading most to describe him as “aggressively average.” Naturally, it’s not quite the trait that most teams look for in a head coach.
And so, the Colts decided to find better luck elsewhere.
That elsewhere happens to be fan favorite Jeff Saturday.
Again, Saturday should be no stranger if you know sports or at least football, particularly the Indianapolis Colts.
The undrafted rookie began his professional career with a short stint with the Baltimore Ravens before signing on with the Colts as an offensive lineman.
Since then, he’s grown in both skill and fame. He was the starting center for the team that won Super Bowl XLI. He’s earned two first-team All-Pro awards, two second-team All-Pro Awards, and was a six-time Pro Bowler.
For his greatness, he was inducted into the Colts Ring of Honor in 2015.
Needless to say, he’s been around a while and knows the game, which some would say is reason enough to be considered for a coaching position.
The only problem with his resume is that he’s never actually coached before besides for a high school team from 2017 to 2020. And as anyone familiar with the game knows, that’s a whole lot different than coaching in the NFL. Hell, it’s even an animal other than coaching college ball, which, again, Saturday has never done.
There’s also criticism about the fact that Saturday wasn’t exactly in line to be promoted to head coach right now, if ever.
As you likely know, when a team loses a head coach, for whatever reason, the named interim coach is usually an assistant coach or coordinator of some sort. You know, someone who knows this specific team well, as well as the game plays they exceed or don’t do well at.
It is noted that Saturday was a mere consultant for the Colts before being named interim head coach.
Naturally, both reasons have given more than a few reasons to doubt that Saturday is the best man for the job, as they are legitimate concerns.
What isn’t so legitimate is people like ESPN commentator Jemele Hill claiming that the Colts probably passed over minority candidates to choose Saturday. An official NFL reporter, Ian Rapaport, also tried to throw shade on the choice by saying that minority coaching candidates had likely “noted” the hire.
Even Mike Florio’s ProFootballTalk suggested that the hire had violated the “Rooney Rule.”
However, could it be that given the Colts unsuccessful year thus far, they’ve accepted the season’s fate and hired someone just to hold the position until a more suitable replacement can be found? Someone that fans love and who will keep things interesting until next year?
To me, that seems like a much more likely story. How about you?
