The Athletic(paraphrased by me) -Jim Irsay had long been vehemently against owners meddling in football decisions.
He had essentially gotten rid of Carson Wentz before that game even ended.
From there on, he slowly lost trust in everyone.
It got worse as this season went on.
The Colts kept losing.
Colts coaches across the team slowly started leaving for other jobs.
And now the Colts are 4-11-1.
To the layman, kinda looks Jim Irsay is losing his goddamn mind.
But then Carson Wentz melted his brain, and it all went to shit.
Could have happened to anyone.
Or is that what he wants you think?
Are these the ramblings of a 63 year old loon?
Let’s talk facts.
Something that nobody on the internet wants to do anymore.
Jim Irsay took ownership of the Indianapolis Colts after the passing of his father Robert Irsay.
But he wasn’t just “given the Colts”.
His first order of business: Drafting Peyton Manning
He could have drafted Ryan Leaf.
Drafting Peyton Manning = 13 years of successful Jim Irsay ownership.
But drafting Peyton Manning is kind of aside the point.
Let’s focus on what happened after Peyton Manning.
Manning’s contract ran out after the 2010 season.
Manning dealt with a neck injury in 2011 that made him unable to play.
The franchise needed a fresh start.
And what did Jim Irsay do?
Tanking does not get any better than that.
And you’re able to’t hold Andrew Luck retiring early against Irsay.
It was 1000% the right decision.
Talentwise, he was everything the Colts could have hoped for.
Teams spend decades in mediocrity trying to find “the guy” at quarterback.
The Colts spent 1.
A good tank indeed.
He’s tanked before.
The problem is this 2022-2023 season tank wasn’t so simple.
The Colts still had hope going into the year.
They still have some good talent on their roster.
Irsay had to give it a shot.
He signed Matt Ryan, who many people thought still had a couple good years left in him.
A few people even had the Colts as dark horses to make a run at the Super Bowl.
Fast forward to week 10.
Not in the AFC South.
All you need is 8 or 9 wins to make the playoffs.
Tanking from that position would be unprecedented.
Small minded Colts fans like myself still had hope.
MAYBE.. just maybe, Jim Irsay knew this.
Sure, if he wanted to, he could have kept trusting Chris Ballard to make decisions.
Maybe the Colts could have made the playoffs 2 out of the next 4 years.
Maybe they’d win one playoff game before getting pumped by the Chiefs in the divisional round.
But Irsay knows better than to settle for that.
He knows that the Colts need a rebuild, and they need it immediately.
So what does the mad genius do?
He blows the whole thing up.
Hepretendshe’s going crazy.
He drinks a pint of whisky, slaps a fentanyl patch on his arm, and takes the podium.
He spews nonsense to a room of confused reporters for a full hour.
He gives some weird quote about rocket science.
He compares Colts GM Chris Ballard to Michael Jordan.
And the idiots at The Athletic fell for all of it.
He might not even be done.
He might have the balls to do the whole thing again next year.
Lord knows the Colts have enough positions to fill.
Maybe Jim Irsay has the NFL right where he wants them.
Maybe we’ll look back on this season as the most masterful tank job in NFL history.
Fading in an out of consciousness as multiple different high powered opiates coarse through his veins.
He laughs to himself because everyone has taken the bait.
Maybe Jim Irsay is the brightest football mind of our generation.
Maybe Jim Irsay knows exactly what he’s doing.
But more likely than that he’s just dumb and high.
