Welcome to the Shane Steichen Era
December 29th, 2017 on a beautiful day in Orange County, I happened to be lucky enough to get a tour of the Los Angeles Chargers practice facility.
After a trip to the weight room and meeting the strength and conditioning coach John Lott, I took a look out of a nearby window where two people were still on the practice field well after practice was over. We walked outside to take a look at the field and one of the guys immediately headed over to introduce himself; it was Shane Steichen, at the time the quarterbacks coach of the Chargers.
Naturally, as a guy that loves to consume knowledge about football and still to this very day picks the brains of multiple coaches around the league, I asked, “Hey, man. What are you guys working on?”
He responded rather quickly, “footwork,” the reason being that “all good quarterbacks never stop working on their feet.”
Steichen then politely jogged back over to Philip Rivers and continued working.
I found it captivating that before a Week 16 game against a division rival, a quarterback in his 13th season was out working on something so basic and fundamental as footwork. Looking back at that moment, I attribute it to two things. First is Rivers' desire to be great, and second is Steichen's attention to detail.
I asked a coach that worked with Steichen in the past about that exact thing and he said, “The man is a technician and is obsessed with the details of specific positions… It’s not just quarterback, he coaches it all.”
Since that moment, I’ve monitored Steichen very closely and he’s not disappointed.
He took over as interim offensive coordinator for the Chargers in 2019. In what would be Rivers' last year, they had a top-seven passing offense, averaging a shade over 290 yards per game. The running game, which was abysmal, and a poor offensive line hindered the team from being really competitive, but Steichen was impressive enough to get the job full-time following the season.
With the Chargers deciding to go in a different direction in 2020 and moving on from Rivers, they were faced with an entirely different challenge of replacing a potential Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
For any other staff, this would be a huge issue, but for Steichen and Co., it was a piece of cake. The Chargers selected Justin Herbert and he went on to have one of the greatest rookie seasons in NFL history. Herbert and the Chargers finished with a top-six passing offense and Herbert won Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Even with those accolades, the most impressive thing about that year was developing Herbert at a much faster rate than anyone thought and changing the offense completely from what it was the year before.
The year prior with Rivers, it was more of a quick game passing attack that relied on timing due to Rivers' declining arm strength. With Herbert, Steichen went with a more vertical style passing attack to push the ball down the field and highlight Herbert's huge arm, and it paid off big time. Steichen is a huge part of helping springboard Herbert's career to the point where it is today.
Steichen then decided it was time for a move, as his close friend Nick Sirianni got the head coaching job with the Philadelphia Eagles and he hired Steichen to be his offensive coordinator.
The Eagles got off to a rocky start. It’s not that they were expected to be a powerhouse, but they were clearly underperforming until Sirianni made a huge change. He informed Steichen that he should take over as the offensive play caller and the Eagles decided to change their identity to a more run-focused team, and they never looked back.
The level of difficulty it is to pivot in the middle of a season and become an entirely different team is hard to put into words. The Eagles decided to lean on the run game and use their QB as a weapon with his legs while he was still developing as a passer. The Eagles by far finished that season with the number-one rushing offense in the NFL.
Once again, Steichen is demonstrating an ability to tailor an offense around the strength of his players. In his second season as OC for the Eagles, it was the first time in his career as a coordinator that he actually had the same quarterback to work with, and it paid dividends.
The amount of growth Jalen Hurts showed from 2021 to 2022 was immaculate. He was processing at a faster rate, making defenders pay as a runner, and making all the throws necessary to have a great offense. Hurts went from average NFL starter to MVP candidate and led his team to a Super Bowl appearance.
Steichen becoming the new head coach for the Indianapolis Colts at a time when they are searching for a franchise quarterback just seems like faith at its best. He has the resume that warrants an opportunity of this nature, and for the first time, he’ll actually have a say in the guy he gets to groom and develop.
I’m excited to see which quarterback he chooses and which direction he decides to go in because I think there is a path to success with any of the top four options (Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis, and Anthony Richardson).
Colts fans it’s time to rejoice, as there is now a reason to be optimistic while the team ushers in a new era, The Shane Steichen Era.
