Monday, January 2, 2012

Bill Polian Fired In Indianapolis, Could Caldwell and Peyton Manning Be Next?

Heads are rolling today in the NFL as most teams have finished their season and are beginning preparations for next year.

In Indianapolis, which suffered through a horrendous 2-14 season, the first to go were long-time vice-chairman Bill Polian and his son, General Manager, Chris Polian.

This isn't really a surprise for anyone who saw this past season.  With Peyton Manning unable to play the entire year, the Colts were left on their own.  Manning clearly masked a great deal of mediocrity in the Colts organization. It's amazing how one great quarterback can compensate for a poor defense, offensive line, special teams, but that's what happened.

The Polians for years had operated under a system in which they rarely signed any top-name free agents, preferring to work from the draft and lesser-known free agents.  With Manning gone, fans could see how that system had failed.  Indy was 30th in total offense and 25th in overall defense this year.  Can one person actually make that much of a difference?

It's almost certain that Head Coach Jim Caldwell will also be looking for a new job in the next few days.  With a new GM coming in, he's likely to want to pick his own coach.

Let's also state now for the record (and will go into further detail at a later time), that with this kind of house-cleaning in Indy, it's HIGHLY UNLIKELY that Peyton will be back next year for the Colts.  Not when they're removing everything he's always known.

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