When the story broke that Chris Ballard would be returning for his tenth season, I received it with a sense of numbness. It isn’t that deep to trigger a major episode, and it also is something I have simply come to expect. For the last five years, my anticipation was that the Indianapolis Colts would look for someone else to lead the franchise as GM. That hasn’t been met at this point, so maybe it is time to resign myself to the fact it never will.
Ok, so that last sentence is a bit dramatic. Let me back it up a bit.
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I purposely didn’t write much after finding out Ballard’s services would be retained at West 56th Street. Not that I am afraid of a knee-jerk reaction but I wanted to chew on it a little more and see if I felt differently. I don’t. My initial feeling was one of understanding from an ownership perspective. With new owners getting their feet under them, it makes sense to lean into consistency for another year. Keeping Ballard and Shane Steichen from that perspective makes sense. With that said, overall, I couldn’t like the move less.
Ballard has always been a cat with nine lives. In my mind, he is on life forty-one. Cat lives in the NFL are a bit like dog years. They tend to move much faster. One normally doesn’t get that many chances to prove themselves. Success is displayed through winning and winning is the straw that stirs the drink. Nothing else. It doesn’t matter how nice someone is, how hard they work, how well they treat people, if the winning isn’t there, the lifespan is short.
Not Ballard’s, though. Ballard has been through a ton of stumbling blocks, and I think it is fair to say, even shortcomings. From plenty of high-end draft busts, to a lack of finding premier players at premium positions, to no division titles, the list goes on. That is acceptable for someone in charge of a PeeWee team, but at no other level of football, especially the NFL, does his track record get him far. That is unless you consider the Colts.
Look, Chris Ballard’s day will come at some point. That isn’t me wishing anything on him because, as always, I actually really want him to succeed. This is me stating a fact. Even the greatest get replaced eventually. Let’s just say, I’m not holding my breath anymore, though. It will happen when it happens, and nothing says the next person does any better. No one knows, but could we at least see what happens if we try…?
