The Indianapolis Colts announced Monday that they have fired head coach Frank Reich.
It’s been a difficult season for Reich and the Colts. They lost their fifth game of the season on Sunday, an embarrassing 26-3 loss to the New England Patriots that sent them to a 3-5-1 record in nine weeks. Their quarterback position was a disaster as newly started QB Matt Ryan was benched after his Week 7 loss in favor of backup Sam Ehlinger, who led the team to the loss to the Patriots.
While this season hasn’t been great, the wheels of Reich’s sacking may have been started over a year ago. He played a big part in bringing QB Carson Wentz to Indy in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for the 2021 season, a decision he apologized for at the end of the 2021 season. Wentz has been an albatross around the Colts’ neck all season, personally preventing them from going to the playoffs when he threw an absolutely hilarious interception in the final game of the season.
Reich was hired in February 2018, just weeks after winning the Super Bowl as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator. He took the job thinking starting quarterback Andrew Luck would lead the offense for years to come, but it turns out it was only for a year. Luck abruptly retired in August 2019, just two weeks before the start of the season, starting a carousel of quarterbacks that would plague the remainder of Reich’s tenure.
The Colts had to roll under center with Jacoby Brissett for the 2019 season and then brought in a near-retired Philip Rivers to lead the offense in 2020. Wentz was the starting QB in 2021, and Ryan had the job in 2022. Not once has Reich started a season with the same quarterback that started the previous season. He finishes his time in Indy with a 40-33-1 record.
The Colts fired head coach Frank Reich Monday, less than a day after their fifth loss of the season, an embarrassing 26-3 loss to the Patriots. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)