Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen are back, but the Colts have started to make changes to their coaching staff.
Veteran defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and the Colts “parted ways” on Monday after the veteran coached served 3 years in Indianapolis (2 under Shane Steichen, 1 under Frank Reich). Bradley’s contract was up after the 2024 campaign, with the Colts ready to move on.
“I’m appreciative of Gus and the commitment he made to the Colts,” Shane Steichen said in a team release. “He is a man of great character, and I have the utmost respect for him. I felt like we needed to move in a different direction. I wish Gus and his family all the best moving forward.”
In 3 years under Bradley, the Colts ranked 29th, 28th and 24th in points allowed per game.
The 2024 Colts were easily the worst tackling team in the NFL by a wide margin, and allowed endless career days. They struggled to get after the passer (24th in the NFL in sack percentage), were poor in getting off the field (30th in third-down percentage allowed) and didn’t control field position (29th in yards allowed).
Joe Mixon (most rushing yards in 3 years) and Josh Jacobs (most rushing yards in 2 years) started it in Weeks 1 and 2.
A mightily struggling Trevor Lawrence hit the Colts for a career-day in Week 5.
The lowly Jets scored their most points of the season against the Colts (up until that point). The lowlier Giants scored their most points in 9 years against the Colts. And let’s not forget the Patriots, falling just a point short of their season-high against Bradley’s Colts.
An overall acceptance of “bend, but don’t break” often flips field position in a negative manner, if nothing else, putting the offense into some less than favorable situations.
Even Steichen, a core believer in weekly preparation, would admit the challenge of facing a Bradley-style defense is nowhere near as taxing as others around the NFL.
Personnel questions need to be had defensively, too, but the overall system is too stale for modern-day NFL. And it’s a defensive approach, Chris Ballard has implemented from his early days on the job (first, hiring Matt Eberflus for Josh McDaniels).
Ballard has more than a dozen draft picks in the top 5 rounds on the Colts defensive side of the ball, handing out numerous contract extensions/new deals to that side of the ball, too, and returned all 11 starters from 2023.
Yet, the results have yielded little to resemble an acceptable defensive product, let alone a playoff-caliber unit.
Simply, a 4th year of Bradley was not needed, even if the defensive issues are not solely is problem.
