For Ballard and Steichen, it's playoffs or bust next season -- extenuating circumstances be damned

Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon saw the Colts' incredible 8-2 start and concluded her brain trust could replicate that next season. I'm not bullish. But they're running it back, whether you like it or not.

Well, it’s playoffs or bust for Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen.

Of course, it was playoffs or bust last season, but then the Colts, ravaged by injuries, dropped seven in a row to finish the season, at which point, it was no longer playoffs or bust.

But this time, dammit, team owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon means it. There will be no extenuating circumstances to fall back upon as an explanation/excuse for coming up short next year. This isn’t probation, it’s double-secret probation. This is a Bob Knight zero-tolerance probation. Get it done…or else.

“The sense of urgency has never been higher,” she said Monday.

Does Chris Ballard lead the NFL in mulligans? He got a get-out-of-jail-free card after the Andrew Luck retirement; now, he’s getting another one after this year’s collapse.

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, and my stance remains the same: Blow it up. Part ways with Ballard and Steichen. Don’t accept mediocrity, which has been the Colts’ default setting for almost a decade now. You know all the numbers by now. One playoff victory during the Ballard era. No playoff appearances in five years. No AFC South titles during a 10-year run when every other AFC South team has won the division twice. Steichen in particular has gone 2-10 against Houston and Jacksonville during his tenure. And we could go on. But we won’t. You know the score; the Colts, the worst game- and season-finishers in the league, stink in December, which is when the real NFL season begins.