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| The Colts shockingly fired Bill Polian on Monday. (Getty Images) |
The Colts allowed Jim Caldwell to conduct his normal press conference on Monday, but things took a turn for the crazy on Monday afternoon when the Colts announced a 5 p.m. ET press conference and reports emerged that owner Jim Irsay decided to "clean house" and fire Bill Polian and Chris Polian. There hasn't been confirmation of whether or not the team will also fire coach Jim Caldwell.
| Black Monday |
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That news comes from the NFL Network and it means the Colts are admitting what became obvious this year: the entire Indianapolis roster just isn't very good. Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star confirms that the Polians have been fired, but there's still no word on Caldwell.
Peyton Manning shored up many problems for the Colts, but once he was injured, the team was exposed and limped its way to a two-win season and the No. 1 overall draft pick. Polian was hired in 1997 by the Colts and won NFL Executive of the Year a whopping six times. From 1997 to 2004, he hit a number of home runs in the draft, picking up Manning, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney and Dallas Clark in the first round.
From then til now? Not so good: Marlin Jackson, Joseph Addai, Anthony Gonzalez, Donald Brown, Jerry Hughes and Anthony Castonzo over eight different drafts is a horrible misuse of first-round picks, even if they were near the bottom of the first round.
The Manning conundrum looms as the spiciest offseason storyline. The Polians gave Peyton his contract (and obviously drafted him) but Irsay is a tremendous supporter of his franchise quarterback. Cleaning house could mean moving onto a new era (one that will presumably feature Andrew Luck under center) ... or perhaps the Polians were prepared to move along without Manning and Irsay wasn't ready to do that.
Whatever, as Colts center Jeff Saturday told our Colts Rapid Reporter Tom James on Monday that Irsay promised him "there will be changes in the offseason." Saturday didn't know what kind of changes those would be.
They are, quite clearly, large changes. An entire overhaul of the Colts organization, in fact.
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