NFL Hot Seat: 5 coaches that must win Week 3
By Josh Hill
Chuck Pagano
Head Coach, Indianapolis Colts
This one is getting easier and easier as the weeks go by. Whether it was starting Scott Tolzein despite knowing how horrible of an idea that was, or forgetting who the team played, it’s been a bad start to the year for Chuck Pagano.
He was an early frontrunner to be a top hot seat candidate and so far that forecast has been spot-on. The Colts are just miserable right now and are showing no signs of improving. There’s a decent chance they end up with a Top-3 pick in the draft, which coupled with Andrew Luck being healthy makes the Colts an attractive destination for an established free agent head coach (like Sean Payton, perhaps). Pagano has had years to figure this thing out and he hasn’t. A lot of that time has been plagued by a lack of Luck, but there are holes all over the roster that could have been plugged regardless of the health of the quarterback.
Further dooming Pagano was the regime change in the front office. Typically when a general manager is fired and replaced, so too is the head coach he installed. Chris Ballard is going to want to find his own head coach, and the showing Pagano has put forth so far isn’t filling anyone with confidence.