Maybe We Should Keep Caldwell.

[JColts72]

It was his decsion to act like a wet noodle before the end of the half and actually driving down the field. his bonehead decsison for Stoufer or Adam to boot one from 50 plus, and could he not able to communicate with the D coach to stop playing such soft coverage

[BIGugly]

Could it not be that Caldwell did help Manning i hate the idea that Manning would of been able to become one of the best QB's ever without anyone's help even the greats need someone's help to reach their potential. I think Caldwell is an above average HC and all he needs as an good defensive co-ordinator to help him on the side of the ball he doesn't know as well (Spagnuolo, Raheem Morris or Tucker). He got us to a superbowl and it wasn't him that dropped those passes or threw those interceptions and no HC could of guessed the onside kick.

The last thing the team was told before they returned to the second half was ? "Watch for the onside kick" This is from a person who was there.

[BIGugly]

Could it not be that Caldwell did help Manning i hate the idea that Manning would of been able to become one of the best QB's ever without anyone's help even the greats need someone's help to reach their potential. I think Caldwell is an above average HC and all he needs as an good defensive co-ordinator to help him on the side of the ball he doesn't know as well (Spagnuolo, Raheem Morris or Tucker). He got us to a superbowl and it wasn't him that dropped those passes or threw those interceptions and no HC could of guessed the onside kick.

Well his won-loss record doesn't say that he "is an above average HC.".

[SaveJC]

Its pretty similar to Rex's

JC wins football games

[unitaswestand]

I hope Jim Caldwell gets canned. But I must say Caldwell looks like Bill Walsh compared to Mornhinweg

[BNS]

He's a nice man and a good coach, but maybe not Head Coach material. There are better ones available (several names mentioned elsewhere on the Forum), and we'll soon know if the new GM is going to keep him or bring in a new regime.

[TheNextGM]

1. He HAS to go! It is remarkable that people have considered keeping him. The NFL is a business, and he had the WORST record. If nothing else is looked at (some of his coaching mistakes) his record speaks for itself.
   

Bye Jim. It's been a rollercoaster ride with you. Best of luck in the future!

[BleedingBlue]

I don't think that he is the best coach in the NFL, but he did get the team to a Super Bowl.

And Apple will sell more Iphones than ever before with Tim Cook as CEO. Neither deserve credit for these merits folks.

[SaveJC]

Does the coach with the worst record have to go even if he is surrounded by a set of completely incompetent co-ordinators (easily the worst set in the league) and a set of awful Qb's. Look at the difference when he got even a remotely competent Defensive co-ordinator

[Coffeedrinker]

I think Casserly said it best

“I think it’s a tremendous compliment to the players and the organization,” said Casserly. “There was one team that struggled this year and it (the behavior) got to be an embarrassment when they were losing. You saw things with other teams where players went to the press and now all of the sudden things look dysfunctional. You did not see any of that with the Colts. That’s a testament to the head coach. It’s a testament to the character of the players, to those who chose them. No matter what it was, they kept playing hard every week. With injuries hitting a couple of positions they became a little thin and it showed up. The character of the players and their integrity should not be taken lightly. It was something to be proud of.”

[BOTT]

Does the coach with the worst record have to go even if he is surrounded by a set of completely incompetent co-ordinators (easily the worst set in the league) and a set of awful Qb's. Look at the difference when he got even a remotely competent Defensive co-ordinator

hiring coordinators it a huge part of a coaches success....and jimbo hired both coyer and the special teams guy.

[Fatboyslim11]

I think Casserly said it best

That is Caldwell only positive as a head coacH, being a good guy. He is a good man but a lousy head coach. The HC job is to win games, not to be some sort of feel good guy. Caldwell just don't have the skills needed in a NFL (or college) head coach and the sooner we let him go the better off he, the Colts and Colts fans will be going forward. The NFL is a bottom line business and we can't afford to keep a substandard coach if we want to successfully compete in the NFL.

[Fatboyslim11]

hiring coordinators it a huge part of a coaches succe, yss....and jimbo hired both coyer and the special teams guy.

Yes, you can make all the excuses in the world but Caldwell just isn't a good head coach. Look at his entire body of work.

[Coffeedrinker]

That is Caldwell only positive as a head coacH, being a good guy. He is a good man but a lousy head coach. The HC job is to win games, not to be some sort of feel good guy. Caldwell just don't have the skills needed in a NFL (or college) head coach and the sooner we let him go the better off he, the Colts and Colts fans will be going forward. The NFL is a bottom line business and we can't afford to keep a substandard coach if we want to successfully compete in the NFL.

Looking at his entire body of work he has shown to have the skills to be an NFL head coach. The new GM may or may not keep him, the funny thing is I can see both sides. Again the DC was a huge problem did Caldwell hire him or did Caldwell provide a list to Polian and Polian hired him? Did Caldwell hire Ray? Perhaps Caldwell wanted to get rid of Coyer much earlier and that is why there were some back handed comments in the press. No one on this forum really knows.

All I know is I think it's funny that the same people who were upset because Caldwell didn't go for a perfect season now say he is not a good coach. How would a bad coach be in a position to go for a perfect season?

[Fatboyslim11]

Looking at his entire body of work he has shown to have the skills to be an NFL head coach. The new GM may or may not keep him, the funny thing is I can see both sides. Again the DC was a huge problem did Caldwell hire him or did Caldwell provide a list to Polian and Polian hired him? Did Caldwell hire Ray? Perhaps Caldwell wanted to get rid of Coyer much earlier and that is why there were some back handed comments in the press. No one on this forum really knows.

All I know is I think it's funny that the same people who were upset because Caldwell didn't go for a perfect season now say he is not a good coach. How would a bad coach be in a position to go for a perfect season?

What has Caldwell shown to make you think that way? His record at Wake Forest was 26-63 and his record as Colts HC is 26-22. What game plans has he put in place to give the Colts an edge over their opponents? He is routinely outcoached week after week. It is telling that he has that blank, deer caught in the headlight star on the sidelines. He won’t or can’t make in-game adjustments…etc.

He did hire Larry Coyer as DC and he did hire Ray Rychleski as Special teams’ coach–two duds. Those hires speak volumes about his ability or lack thereof to assess talent. Also if he wanted to get rid of Coyer, an old buddy and mentor, why didn’t he do it during the bye week? Same with Rychleski.

I hear a lot about not going for the perfect season as the reason why a lot of Colts fans suddenly turned against Caldwell and Polian. I can only speak for myself to say that is the least of the reasons why I want Caldwell to be ex-head coach of the Colts. Most would say the Colts winning during his first two years were more Manning with a little help from his friends than any great coaching by Caldwell. Just look how bad the team looked this year with Caldwell as the HC.

Note to Irsay and Grigson – Caldwell is a good man but just not a NFL head coach. Fire him and the coaching staff and move forward to rebuild the Colts.

[BIGugly]

What has Caldwell shown to make you think that way? His record at Wake Forest was 26-63 and his record as Colts HC is 26-22. What game plans has he put in place to give the Colts an edge over their opponents? He is routinely outcoached week after week. It is telling that he has that blank, deer caught in the headlight star on the sidelines. He won’t or can’t make in-game adjustments…etc.

He did hire Larry Coyer as DC and he did hire Ray Rychleski as Special teams’ coach–two duds. Those hires speak volumes about his ability or lack thereof to assess talent. Also if he wanted to get rid of Coyer, an old buddy and mentor, why didn’t he do it during the bye week? Same with Rychleski.

I hear a lot about not going for the perfect season as the reason why a lot of Colts fans suddenly turned against Caldwell and Polian. I can only speak for myself to say that is the least of the reasons why I want Caldwell to be ex-head coach of the Colts. Most would say the Colts winning during his first two years were more Manning with a little help from his friends than any great coaching by Caldwell. Just look how bad the team looked this year with Caldwell as the HC.

Note to Irsay and Grigson – Caldwell is a good man but just not a NFL head coach. Fire him and the coaching staff and move forward to rebuild the Colts.

Exactly. Lets drop a couple more names...Howard Mudd, Tom Moore...I'm just sayin'.

[Coffeedrinker]

What has Caldwell shown to make you think that way? His record at Wake Forest was 26-63 and his record as Colts HC is 26-22.

Who cares what his record was at WF? That has nothing to do with anything. When looking at some of the coaches out there that many people want, his winning percentage is similar to those coaches. And better than a lot of coaches who are available.

What game plans has he put in place to give the Colts an edge over their opponents?

26 of them.

He is routinely outcoached week after week. It is telling that he has that blank, deer caught in the headlight star on the sidelines.

Ahh yes, he doesn't outwardly show emotion so that means he gets out coached. Please, you're smarter than that.

He won’t or can’t make in-game adjustments…etc.

He has made many in game adjustments so I guess he can and he does.

He did hire Larry Coyer as DC and he did hire Ray Rychleski as Special teams’ coach–two duds. Those hires speak volumes about his ability or lack thereof to assess talent. Also if he wanted to get rid of Coyer, an old buddy and mentor, why didn’t he do it during the bye week? Same with Rychleski.

Perhaps he tried but Polian kept telling him, let's wait another week, let's wait.

I hear a lot about not going for the perfect season as the reason why a lot of Colts fans suddenly turned against Caldwell and Polian. I can only speak for myself to say that is the least of the reasons why I want Caldwell to be ex-head coach of the Colts. Most would say the Colts winning during his first two years were more Manning with a little help from his friends than any great coaching by Caldwell.

So the wins are because of other people but the losses are all on Caldwell? That makes a lot of sense.

Just look how bad the team looked this year with Caldwell as the HC.

They looked really bad at times, but most of the time they did not look as bad as a 2-14 team. If they had got descent QB play they would have been an 8-8 team.

[Fatboyslim11]

Some will continue to believe Caldwell can continue to lead this team despite the reality of his sub standard body of work. I am anxious to see if Caldwell gets a another HC job after he is fired in Indy. He will be lucky if he land a job as a position coach. Heck, he may be taking your order soon at one of the Indy burger joints.

[JColts72]

Maybe we shouldn't kep Caldwell is more appropraite- he will never get another HC job.

[No 1 Manning Fan]

Exactly. Lets drop a couple more names...Howard Mudd, Tom Moore...I'm just sayin'.

Let's not bring them up. It makes me sick to see them gone and coaching other teams. The Colts should have done their best to keep those guys. At least Peyton learned a lot from ole Tom. But what'll we do when we no longer have Peyton at QB? I pray that we hire him as OC.

[LUCK TO THE COLTS]

Caldwell has to go... I didn't like the hire from day one. Caldwell looks like a deer caught in the headlights when he's on the sidelines. The Colts will be the laughing stock of the AFC South as long as Caldwell is the HC....

[BIGugly]

Let's not bring them up. It makes me sick to see them gone and coaching other teams. The Colts should have done their best to keep those guys. At least Peyton learned a lot from ole Tom. But what'll we do when we no longer have Peyton at QB? I pray that we hire him as OC.

Any idea why Zupancic quit mid-season?

[Warhorse]

Amazing how the human mind can give credit to Peyton Manning for all the wins.....and then in his absence....give all the blame to Jim Caldwell. A post was made earlier about things that boggle the mind. Well......this......

[IndyTrav]

Amazing how the human mind can give credit to Peyton Manning for all the wins.....and then in his absence....give all the blame to Jim Caldwell. A post was made earlier about things that boggle the mind. Well......this......

Its not to hard....

Pre-Caldwell With Manning= Colts are Winners

Caldwell with Manning= Colts are Winners

Caldwell without Manning = Colts have #1pick

Whats boggling about this?

[hawkeyes]

The cardboard cut out has got to go ... come on Colts I want another presser!

[FireJimCaldwell]

Amazing how some still support this fragment of an NFL coach.

We might have had better QB play if they wouldn't have tried to force-feed an offense to 3 guys that had no business running it for what 12 weeks? A decent coach, not even a good coach, but a decent coach would have made some changes to the offensive scheme as soon as Manning goes under the knife for the 2nd time. Kerry Collins had a very slim chance of performing well with what little time he had in the offense. Painter didn't have the skill set to run, and luckily for Orlovsky by the time he was in there they had finally discovered they needed to make some conceptual changes to the offense. Let's pat Jim and Clyde on the back for such awesome intuitiveness.

I don't blame Caldwell for 2-14. I do blame for him putting a plan in the place that could better serve the team and for taking so long to make a switch in quarterbacks an concepts. Any NFL coach is going to have a drop off when the best quarterback ever doesn't take a snap, but Caldwell's ineptness made it far worse than it should have been.

He didn't deserve to be hired to start with, and he hasn't done anything to deserve to retain his job. Hopefully GM Knoxville see that and sends him packing.

[sfergson727]

Yeah, look what he did for Manning as his QB coach. WOW !

I highly doubt that Caldwell 'coached' up Manning. More likely, Caldwell spent his time developing Curtis Painter and Jim Sorgi. How's that working out?

Thinking the whole QB debacle this year, the whole coaching staff should have been canned immediately with Polian's, don't you think?

See ya Caldwell, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[Coffeedrinker]

I highly doubt that Caldwell 'coached' up Manning. More likely, Caldwell spent his time developing Curtis Painter and Jim Sorgi. How's that working out?

This is nonsense. One, Painter was not on the team when Caldwell was the QB coach and two Manning's play had declined the two years before Caldwell became the QB coach and steadily got better each year he was the QB coach. And he did a good job with Sorgi, who played well in limited snaps for the Colts and got a shot with another team

[sfergson727]

I would say that to believe Caldwell is a competent coach is pure nonsense.

[buccolts]

I would say to have such conviction based strictly on an opinion could be construed as foolishness.

As a matter of fact, there, I did say it.

[FireJimCaldwell]

This is nonsense. One, Painter was not on the team when Caldwell was the QB coach and two Manning's play had declined the two years before Caldwell became the QB coach and steadily got better each year he was the QB coach. And he did a good job with Sorgi, who played well in limited snaps for the Colts and got a shot with another team

Backing up Eli Manning isn't exactly getting a shot. Matt Cassel got a shot. Mark Brunell & Matt Hasselbeck after backing up Brett Favre got shots. Jim Sorgi took another back up up position.

Manning's #'s only dipped once between 1998 and 2004, and that was the year that we lost Edge, and while Dom came in and scraped together 1k on the ground it wasn't exactly the same offense wasn't the same and teams didn't fear 33 like they did 32.

Manning's progression is due to his work ethic and his approach each offseason of trying to find something to improve on. From my understanding the QB Coach and back up QB were more of film geeks taking notes for Manning and presenting him the data that he requested. I won't say that Caldwell deserves no credit for Manning's development, but I'll give the majority of the credit to Manning & Moore, and Manning's work ethic and maturing into his prime.

[horseshoepower]

It really matters what the plan B is, if it's a choice between Jim Caldwell or former Lions coach Marty Morninweig I'll take Caldwell in fact I'll take Caldwell over any of the former Lion coaches Marriucci,Fontes,etc now if a proven, build from the ground up coach emerges like Gruden, Cowher, return of Dungy, etc then its time to part ways.

[BIGugly]

I highly doubt that Caldwell 'coached' up Manning. More likely, Caldwell spent his time developing Curtis Painter and Jim Sorgi. How's that working out?

Thinking the whole QB debacle this year, the whole coaching staff should have been canned immediately with Polian's, don't you think?

See ya Caldwell, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I was being facecious about Caldwell coaching up Manning. C'mon. man.

[coltsblue1844]

It really matters what the plan B is, if it's a choice between Jim Caldwell or former Lions coach Marty Morninweig I'll take Caldwell in fact I'll take Caldwell over any of the former Lion coaches Marriucci,Fontes,etc now if a proven, build from the ground up coach emerges like Gruden, Cowher, return of Dungy, etc then its time to part ways.

Cowher is overrated...his whole reputation was built off of being some kind of defensive minded genius...when in reality, Dick Lebeau is the one who makes the Steelers' D what it is and what it was under Cowher.

I like Dungy as a person, but i always thought that he was overrated, also. He makes a good motivational speaker, but a lot of his ideas i just dont agree with. He is the reason we have all of the undersized players...the reason we have Caldwell...and the reason we would have RGIII over Luck if he were to make the decision.

Of all the names you mentioned, i would take Steve Marriucci over all of the others. I think he was a good coach and a very smart/creative one...but was run out of San Francisco by TO...and NO ONE would look good coaching the Lions back when he had that job...with Matt Millen as your GM, it made it that much harder on him!

[BuildtheMonster1285]

After all its not entirely his fault.He had to work with what our former GM gave him.

True, but I feel he still didnt help make things any better

[JColts72]

Are alot of fans here wanting Caldwell gone suddenly drinking the Caldwell aka Radio (as somebody else gave such name); the Caldwell fruity puch mix to cloud one's realistic perception of his poor game management skills. I guess the 0 and 13 was YEARS ago or some sort of mirage that never happened as well as costing the Jets playoff game too. Would like tosee a d coach; Greg Williams or Mike Zimmer; I mean look at the Bengals from a horrible unit not too long ago.

[BOTT]

Yes, you can make all the excuses in the world but Caldwell just isn't a good head coach. Look at his entire body of work.

i was blaming jim caldwell not making excuses for him

[LightninMax]

It's difficult from a fans perspective to evaluate a coach because so much of the vital criteria is behind the scenes. The Colts organizaiton as a whole plays things close to the vest. Personally, I think this wise when every media analyst and commentator is looking for a controversial story even to the extent of embellishing the facts. Within this guideline Caldwell did well in communicating with the media and fan base. The Colts organization over the past has shown to be very adept at taking low/undrafted rookies and turning them into competitive if not downright outstanding players. I felt the Colts made the right moves with their highest draft picks of the past several years. They haven't panned out as planned, but look around the league and you'll see that is the same for every team. It's a roll of the dice when it come to who makes it in the NFL and who doesn't. By right moves I mean that after we lost Marvin, the Colt's did their best bringing in Gonzalez, Addai after Edgerrin, Garcon after Gonzalez, Hughes after Freeney injuries. Finding Clark as a slot receiver after losing Stokely. Now I know that Caldwell wasn't HC for all these and I don't know how much input he had, but the organization did and Caldwell was a part of it so he gets some credit. It's safe to say no one person made those calls, but Polian/Irsay had final approval. Once again we started last season with rookies on the corners and at safety. By years end they were playing at a much higher very competitve level. Last season saw us once again rebuild the linebacking core. Someone or someones get an A+ for that.

When it became apparent that Peyton was going to miss significant time at the beginning of last season it appeared to me that the Colts had two directions to go offensively. (1) Try to find a Peyton substitute and keep the same offensive strategy or (2) revamp the offense to a two back two tight end strategy focusing on ball control and limiting the number of posessions to the opponent. When the final roster cuts were made the Colts kept extra running backs, cut wide receivers, and even kept a fullback. It appeared that #2 might be the direction. #2 had the advantage of minimizing the dependcy on the QB. Then, we picked up Kerry Collins through him into Peyton's offense and said make it work. Then we tried the same thing with Painter, then Orlovsky. Finally, with experimentation at various times from mid-season on the running game became more effective and Orlovsky actually showed some success with the no-huddle(an innovation that Peyton brought to league). Well, what we don't know is how much of those decisions were Polian and how much was Caldwell. I don't know, but with what I hear of Polian's personality I suspect he primarily drove the Collins decision and I would like to believe that Caldwell kept working into what we saw by the end of the year. If that's true then Caldwell get's one big pat on the back. Another issue that caused me to question Caldwell, was the apparent difference between Painter and Orlovsky. Through much of the preseason Painter lookied very unsure of himself. The last preseason game was by far his best. With limited time, the best look the fans had of Orlovsky in the next to last preseason game it seemed obvious he was more comfortable in the pocket and had more mobility as well as a better vision of the field. I believe that the season proved that out. Now if Coach Dakich could see that in preseason why didn't some of the Colts administration see that.

I don't believe the picture of the coach on the sidelines is much of an indicatur of his coaching ability. Whether he is jumping up and down like Harbaugh, standing statuesqe as Tom Landy, or hollering like Lombardi while fun for the fans to look at isn't the measue of the coach.

The choice of 4-3, 3-4, or cover 2 is more dependent on player personnel than on coaching philosophy. When Manning arrived in '98 one of the weakest areas on the team was the secondary. It took several years to develop only to be socked with injuries and FA, it was rebuilt again and last year we started over for the third time. If a team doesn't have blanket cover corners then the Cover 2 defense gives the best chance of no quick long scores to the opponent. If we had the Revis's, Baileys, Cromarties' of the league we could play some bump and run etc. But, with rookie corners you're going to get burned deep and often. So, again has it been failure to get needed players or bad coaching. I believe it's just been a matter of priorities, we've had other needs (Oline, RB's, WR) that alwasy seemed to take a priority.

I apologize for the length, but when coaches are changed it always sets teams back in time to prepare for the next season. Some will argue this is one of those times. If Peyton turns out to have to retire then maybe it is. But, aside from the "deer in the headlight" look and a low key personality Jim Caldwell has been a solid NFL coach. (go ahead I'm wearing flame ^fool^ent underwear)

Since as a fan I really can't say for sure, I've found that the best guage of a coach is what the people that live with him have to say, not the blood chasing sharks like a Kravitz, but the players themselves. Almost to a man, over the time Caldwell has been here the players have had only good things to say. Keep Caldwell.

[JColts72]

Players like him becasue he's soft, and as far as playing hard, you have to be ralistic that there was some games, the tackling was horrible, but that could just be on the colts way of playing d anyway. No way one can compare caldwell to Landry other than being both stoic. When Caldwell has the career wins Landry has, then one can talk.

[LightninMax]

Players like him becasue he's soft, and as far as playing hard, you have to be ralistic that there was some games, the tackling was horrible, but that could just be on the colts way of playing d anyway. No way one can compare caldwell to Landry other than being both stoic. When Caldwell has the career wins Landry has, then one can talk.

Professionals want to win so I'm not sure they would accept soft, but maybe you're right. I do know you're right about missed tackles. In fact, missed blocks, dropped balls, fumbles etc. Poor execution will always contribute to problems. I just think in the big picture the defense did an outstanding job given the fact they were always on the field an inordinate amount of time and constantly fighting against poor field position. I don't know how many times the defense was asked to stop a team that was given the ball within field goal range. It seemed that the defense managed to prevent touchdowns in a high percentage of the time. The one game they didn't ...New Orleans.