Jim Irsay: 'I've Never Hired a Losing Head Coach'

The Indianapolis Colts fired Frank Reich on Monday and owner Jim Irsay named former Colt Jeff Saturday as interim-head coach in a move that raised eyebrows around the league.

To open the introductory press conference on Monday night to introduce Saturday, Irsay said it was a difficult decision to fire Reich before touting his credentials as an owner.

"I’ve never hired a losing head coach in my life," said Irsay. "The last interim-head coach I hired became a Super Bowl winning head coach – Bruce Arians. I’ve been fortunate and blessed on the path of bringing in coaches, whether they are interim or head coach."

"Expectations are high here. Look, we’re the fourth-winningest franchise in the league since 2000. That means in the upper quartile of winners, we’re in the top quartile of that upper quartile. That’s rare air. We’ve earned being there and what we’ve accomplished speaks for itself. I don’t have to crunch numbers to say what we’ve accomplished."

Reich was fired after accumulating a 40-33-1 record with the Colts, but his 3-5-1 start to the 2022 season, filled with offseason promise, doomed him.

"I told Frank that expectations are high," said Irsay. "He was a winning head coach. Less than half the league – 18 teams, including Pittsburgh, haven’t had a winning season, been in the playoffs two out of four years and won a playoff game."

"If anyone wants to kind of diminish anything that coach did, you’d be wrong because your opinion really doesn’t matter because what matters is the facts. We live with those facts – either you win or you lose."

"The numbers don’t lie."

Right now the numbers are ugly.

The Colts have the worst-scoring offense in the NFL at just 14.7-points per game. Their vaunted rushing attack has dropped from second in the NFL last year to 30th this season.

Saturday enters a tough situation with the Colts and just five days to prepare for the Las Vegas Raiders... one of those being a travel day.

If there's a bright spot for Saturday's Colts, the Raiders are a dumpster fire under Josh McDaniel right now.

The Colts travel to Vegas as a 4.5-point underdog to the Raiders according to SI Sportsbook. If Saturday gets the win, he'll join the list of Irsay's coaches with winning records and may send McDaniels to the unemployment line with Reich.