playBen SolakOct 20, 2026, 06:25 AM ETCloseBen Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a national NFL analyst. He previously covered the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Green Nation and The Draft Network.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsAre you excited for NFL Week 7? “Thursday Night Football” between Bears QB Caleb Williams and Patriots QB Drake Maye is a great “future of the league” contest. Bengals at Ravens will always be a banger … if QB Lamar Jackson is active.
Chiefs at Seahawks on Sunday night will either right the Seattle ship or make the alarm bells scream.Every Tuesday of the NFL season, I’ll turn the page from the previous week to the upcoming one with seven things I think. These aren’t full-scale predictions. They aren’t concrete takeaways from the past week of NFL action, either; those are fired off Sunday or Monday. Instead, these are the uncertain topics.
They are things that might be true, but it’ll probably take the next few games to find out. And at the bottom, you’ll find a few extra half-thoughts … just those little inklings I’m unable to shake.Subscribe: ‘ESPN’s Leaguewide’This week, I’ll start with some reactions to the biggest Monday news — Jalen Hurts being placed on season-ending injured reserve and the firing of Colts general manager Chris Ballard — before peeking at what’s going wrong in Los Angeles and what’s going right in Cleveland, of all places.Jump to: Colts are right to keep Steichen Eagles should make three trades Williams should be MVP candidate but … Simmons for Defensive Player of Year Cleveland is a QB away from contending Stafford’s age is starting to show Some extra inklingsI think … Carlie Irsay-Gordon was right to give Shane Steichen more timeThe Colts (2-4) fired Ballard on Monday following their Week 6 loss to the Titans (1-5).
That’s the thing about home losses to winless divisional rivals: They spur swift corrective action.Interestingly, head coach Shane Steichen was not fired midseason alongside Ballard. As owner Irsay-Gordon said in her statement released by the Colts: “This does not change our goals for this season. We have a lot of football in front of us, and I expect to compete, improve and win football games.” There’s a clear message to Steichen in this final line — that she is leaving the door open for him to coach his way into another year on the job.Just how many wins that might take is unclear. ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Colts an 8.8% chance to make the postseason — something they have not done since 2020.
Is Steichen’s percent chance to save his job — 1 in 12 — about the same?play3:01Pat McAfee reflects on state of Colts after firing of GMNo matter how wide the door is cracked open, I think this is a sharp call by Irsay-Gordon. While midseason coach firings shake up the game-day result more than midseason general manager firings, the primary brunt of the blame in Indianapolis rests with Ballard. Since Andrew Luck’s surprising retirement in 2019, the Colts have ridden a carousel of veteran stopgaps at QB — Philip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, Gardner Minshew II and Daniel Jones — with one huge swing-and-miss at the draft plate in Anthony Richardson Sr.No matter the shocking context of Luck’s early retirement, Ballard failed to solve the most important position in sports despite several more bites at the apple than the average general manager gets. To be fair, he got unlucky.
Richardson’s early-career injuries interrupted what was meant to be a long developmental arc. Jones was a wonderful hit in 2025 before injuries derailed his play as well.Ballard extended his tenure with strong drafting, but even the success of that approach was overstated. The Colts constantly prioritized size and athleticism early at edge rusher and got burned for it (Dayo Odeyingbo, Kwity Paye, Laiatu Latu). Recent picks (CJ Allen, Justin Walley, Jaylahn Tuimoloau) needed to fill urgent holes have all become targets for opposing offenses.Even if Ballard is a relatively solid drafter, any guy calling the shots for a decade will accumulate a lot of misses — and the Colts under Ballard have not been aggressive free agency spenders or traders to account for those gaps.
At least not until last year, when Ballard’s seat really started to get hot. Then he signed safety Cam Bynum and cornerback Charvarius Ward and traded for cornerback Sauce Gardner. They were big and understandable swings given how dire his job security was. But it was too little, too late.It was impossible to imagine putting Ballard in charge of another quarterback search.
But it is not impossible to imagine handing whatever new quarterback the Colts find in 2027 or 2028 to Steichen. The work Steichen did in 2025 to precipitate not just great, but historically elite numbers from Jones and the offense is a bigger feather in his respective cap than anything Ballard achieved over a decade at the helm of the roster. Steichen remains one of the league’s best coaches for optimal fourth-down decision-making and clock management. He has been far from perfect — he failed to develop Richardson.
But 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t develop Trey Lance. Steichen’s overall body of work with Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia and Jones in Indianapolis outweighs the Richardson blunder.So Steichen is good. But can he elevate this group to an acceptable level for ownership? See Irsay-Gordon’s statement again: “Making this change during the season was a deliberate decision.
Waiting would only delay the important work that needs to begin now.” Is she alluding to the hard work of finding a new general manager or the work of moving contracts before the trade deadline on Nov. 10? Will Steichen be able to save his job coaching an offense without eight-time Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson, who has only one year left on his deal and could be a trade target? Or without DeForest Buckner, the frustrated star defensive tackle who deserves a deep playoff run?The best historical comparison for Steichen’s current position is that of Jim Caldwell, who coached the Lions in 2015. General manager Martin Mayhew was fired after a 1-7 start and the expectation was that Caldwell would meet the same fate.
Instead, Caldwell went 6-2 and kept the job for another two seasons. I’m not sure Steichen has the roster necessary to win 75% of his remaining games — Matthew Stafford is not quarterbacking this team, folks — even before the Colts start gutting the roster. Then again, I’m still not sure Steichen could possibly go 7-1 with Jones at quarterback, and that literally happened last year.It’s not worth predicting anything with Irsay-Gordon. She is a new owner and is clearly committed to doing things her way.
We don’t have a scouting report on her yet. But I’m glad she is giving Steichen the season to coach for his job, and I’m excited to see what desperation cooks up in Indianapolis over the next few months.I think … the following Eagles will be traded to the following teamsI expect the Eagles to trade away multiple players at the deadline. It’s Howie Roseman! How could they not?At 2-4 and with quarterback Jalen Hurts on injured reserve for the rest of the year, the season is lost.
Sure, they have enough talent to finish 8-9 or 7-10 — Tanner McKee is not a terrible backup, receiver DeVonta Smith is back in the starting lineup, running back Saquon Barkley (hamstring) and guard Landon Dickerson (knee) are soon to join him, and that defense still has the potential to cause problems for opponents. But Howie Roseman is not the sort of general manager to limp to 8-9 when there are big offseason decisions to be made.Will Hurts still be the franchise quarterback in Philadelphia? On “This is Football with Kevin Clark” last week, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport openly wondered about the Eagles’ plan for Hurts this offseason — that was before blood clots ended his 2026 season. Will Nick Sirianni still the head coach in Philadelphia?
He won a Super Bowl, but his inability to de
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