We aren’t exactly sure what went on behind the scenes in Indianapolis over the past several hours, but the Colts made a rather shocking announcement Monday evening.
Long thought to be out of a job when his contract expired following this Sunday’s season finale, head coach Chuck Pagano has agreed to an extension and will remain the Colts head coach for the foreseeable future:
Coach Pagano has agreed to an extension. Tune in live to watch the press conference at 10:30PM tonight
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 5, 2016
As indicated above, this is a rather shocking move.
Indianapolis finished an injury-ravaged 2015 campaign with an 8-8 record and in second place in the AFC South. Considering the team was expected to compete for a Super Bowl, this result was definitely disappointing.
And considering Pagano himself was a lame-duck head coach in the final year of his contract, Monday’s end result is even more shocking.
Reports are also trickling in that general manager Ryan Grigson will be retained, creating somewhat of an interesting dynamic within the organization. Remember, the two were reportedly at odds prior to the end of the season.
Despite the Colts’ pedestrian 2015 season, Pagano did what he could to make it work. After all, the team was forced to start four quarterbacks throughout the year with Andrew Luck going down to a season-ending injury in Week 9.
More than that, the talent issues up and down Indianapolis’ roster is more of a black eye for Grigson than it is for Pagano. That led some to believe the former should be fired over the latter.
We will have to wait and see on that.
All we do know is that the Colts are not going to be on the market for a new head coach.