Indianapolis, IN — For years, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard preached patience without following through with a worthwhile product. From the uncertainty that was the quarterback carousel post-Luck to the uninspiring free agent cycles of yesteryear were just two of this regime’s biggest shortcomings thus far, with many more deficiencies scattered throughout. Through five weeks in the 2025-26 season, however, Colts fans and media members alike are singing a much different tune.
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Ballard has also preached continuity during this timeframe, though until now it seemed like wishful thinking more than anything. After consecutive offseasons of ‘running it back’ to no avail, this front office recognized its shortcomings up to that point, and in response, deviated from the norm in the biggest way yet. It’s important to acknowledge that it’s still early in the season, but that hesitancy is quickly turning into conviction. This Colts team is different, and it’s not solely in the way the roster was constructed.
Before Shane Steichen became the team’s head coach, and even a couple of times during his tenure thus far, the Colts have shown a tendency to get comfortable with a lead and either choke it away entirely or merely give the opposition a chance it should’ve never had. Conversely, when this team used to appear down and out, once momentum was established on the other side of the field, poise typically fell apart. Nowadays, the Colts are remaining confidently feisty, while also playing their most complementary football of the Ballard era.
As alluded to, the Colts aren’t just maintaining their leads; they’re putting their foot on the opposition’s neck as they do their worst to put them down for good. Against the Miami Dolphins in the season-opener, Indy walked into halftime with a 20-0 lead, and still came out in the second half swinging as they put up 13 more points. Similarly, two weeks later, the Colts traveled South to take on the Tennessee Titans and put up 21 points in the second half after entering halftime with a strong 20-6 lead. Finally, against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, a 40-6 rout. The total beatdown from start to finish all but solidifies that, at the absolute worst, this Colts team will be an impressively hard out.
Turning that comfort of a lead into a kill shot is not all that showcases this to be the team that Chris Ballard always envisioned, but that, coupled with everything laid before it, does. The complementary play, the absence of ego, and selfless togetherness that’s been on full display through five weeks is precisely what Ballard and Co. had been building towards. It’s now a culture — or Colture, if you will — that seems sustainable.
Arguably, the biggest change in what’s allowed the front office’s previous wrongs to be righted so quickly has been the newfound philosophy from the new-look Colts’ ownership. Many doubters and/or misogynistic detractors deemed the Irsay daughters’ reign to be strictly nepotism-related, though this succession plan has long been in place and is already paying dividends. Not only did Ballard and Co.‘s recent uncharacteristic spending in free agency come during their first offseason as owners, but CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon and her sisters vowed to prioritize winning and promised to uphold a new version of accountability, and so far, they’ve done just that.
“I know it could be misunderstood to say, I don’t like talking just about winning. I like talking about being the best,” Irsay-Gordon said during her and her sisters’ opening press conference as new owners of the Indianapolis Colts. “… I feel like to say ‘win’ is just more outcome-oriented, right? It’s more outcome-oriented, more short-term. To me, it’s about being the best.”
The recent big fish free-agent acquisitions of defensive backs Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum, as well as what’s become one in quarterback Daniel Jones, are undeniably what have allowed this team to blossom into a top-tier operation. The resurgence of Jones, thanks to the marriage between him and Shane Steichen, is inarguably what’s gotten the ball rolling, but outside of those three additions lies a roster chock-full of Chris Ballard bets.
It’s been resurfaced ad nauseam — the abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck — to showcase what type of rebound Ballard and Co. had their hands full of, and although that fact is constantly faced with eye-roll reactions as if that bears no weight in the outlook of a franchise, it’s easy to see now. Perhaps the Colts were always a steady-handed quarterback away, or maybe that, in tandem with much-needed self-reflection from a managerial standpoint, is what has resulted in such a drastic turnaround in not only success, but demeanor. What is undeniable is that this Colts team is firing on all cylinders in all three phases, and while the players and coaching staff deserve their credit in righting the ship, so does this refreshed front office, as well as the new ownership from Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Kalen Jackson, and Casey Foyt.
