It appears as though Jeff Saturday’s NFL head coaching tenure isn’t going to last too long.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay fired Frank Reich following a disappointing 3-5-1 start to the season. In a major surprise, he hired former Colts star center Jeff Saturday to serve as the interim head coach, even though the latter had zero coaching experience in the NCAA and NFL.
Things haven’t gotten any better for the Colts since the coaching change. They’re 1-4 under Saturday, with rock bottom coming last Saturday in which they blew a 33-point lead in the second half against the Minnesota Vikings. This marked the biggest comeback in NFL history.
According to a report from Jason La Canfora of The Washington Post, Saturday believes he’s not cut out to be an NFL head coach. It’s also expected that he’ll leave after the season:
“The Colts’ horrific results — allowing 33 points in the fourth quarter against Dallas and then blowing a 33-point lead against the Vikings — have executives in the league convinced the Jeff Saturday experiment is almost over. Saturday, they say, knows he isn’t an NFL head coach, and even if owner Jim Irsay wants him to stay, he’s expected to walk away at the end of the season.”
Saturday may not be the only head coach to walk away. On Friday, Jeremy Fowler and Josh Weinfuss of ESPN reported that “people close to” Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury “have openly wondered whether he would walk away after the season.”
The Colts have failed to qualify for the postseason in consecutive years for the first time since 2016-17. Whether or not GM Chris Ballard gets another year remains to be seen, but all signs point to (another) coaching change in 2023.
