Praise for Shane Steichen still leaves Colts fans wondering one thing

Horseshoe Heroes · Jul 22, 2026 20:00 · 3 min read

Praise for Shane Steichen still leaves Colts fans wondering one thing — Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen speaks ahead of the team’s veterans minicamp | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

One NFL analyst recently dropped some massive adulation on Shane Steichen, but Indianapolis Colts fans are still left with one question.

Few people doubt that Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen is able to formulate a scheme that will turn into some good offensive success. NFL analyst Warren Sharp certainly believes that. The issue for fans is why Steichen's brilliance doesn't turn into overall success.

Even the Indy media pushed back on Warren's recent take, asking the same thing fans likely are. Sharp said that pre-game planning is a strength of the coach's, but then when other teams adjust to what Indianapolis is doing, the Colts appear to struggle with responding to the change.

That isn't a generality, either. 2025 was the perfect example of the Steichen experience. His offense was elite in the first half of the season against teams that weren't overly talented and didn't have the players to be able to push back on Indy's system. In the second half, the team suffered a lot of injuries, but the competition got tougher, and the Colts failed.

Indianapolis Colts need Shane Steichen's first quarter success to remain the same into the fourth quarter

As Colts insider Mike Chappell pointed out on social media, Indianapolis had a good game plan heading into Week 15 last season against the Seattle Seahawks, even with Philip Rivers at quarterback, but once Seattle adapted, Indianapolis couldn't change. Indy lost 18-16 in overtime in a game that the Colts arguably should have won.

Warren Sharp's initial point was a good one, but ultimately flawed. The analyst said Steichen was "the most underrated, undervalued play-scripter in the NFL" before adding that Indy is top-3 in the league in the first quarter since Steichen became the coach in 2023 in points per drive and fewest punts per drive. This is the case even though Indianapolis's quarterback group hasn't been great.

What any fan can point to is that games aren't won in the first quarter. They also aren't lost in the first quarter. The true brilliance of a coach isn't one-quarter excellence, but how the coach calls plays in tight games late. In that sense, Steichen fails, which is one reason he is 7-22 against teams with winning records in his Indianapolis tenure.

ESPN's Colts insider Stephen Holder responded to Sharp's social media post by saying, "There’s obviously a lot more to being a great coach than good play-scripting, but there might be no one better at it than Shane Steichen. He has a unique understanding of matchups and how to exploit them. The trick is to build on that after defenses adjust as the game goes on."

Exactly. Shane Steichen is capable of building an efficient and successful offensive system. He's proven that throughout his NFL career, from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Philadelphia Eagles to the Indianapolis Colts. But what is still in question is how well he adjusts to what a defense does during a game.

If the head coach can improve on that performance in 2026, the Colts could be a playoff team, and a dangerous one. The pre-game-planning simply needs to transition to a full game's success.