INDIANAPOLIS — A confounding start prompted Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano to fire his offensive coordinator on Tuesday.
Less than 24 hours after a third consecutive loss, Pagano announced he had replaced Pep Hamilton with associate head coach Rob Chudzinski.
“As head coach of this team, it’s my responsibility to make sure I’m doing everything we can to put us in the best position to succeed,” Pagano said in a statement. “We thank Pep for his service to the team and wish him all the best.”
Clearly, the Colts (3-5) have not lived up to the Super Bowl hype they started with this season.
They lost their first two games for the second time in Pagano’s tenure and are in the midst of the first three-game losing streak since Pagano and Andrew Luck arrived in town in 2012. Outside the terrible AFC South, Indianapolis is 0-5, and Luck has thrown a league-high 12 interceptions despite missing the first two games of his career because of a right shoulder injury.
Not surprisingly, Pagano and Hamilton had faced a steady stream of criticism for mistakes and questionable play-calling. Hamilton mostly blamed himself.
“It’s a combination of helping the protection and then I just have to do a better job of coming up with ways to get our guys matched up and getting them matched up against the linebackers, safeties, whoever, getting them more involved in the passing game,” Hamilton said Thursday when he was asked why the tight ends weren’t more involved.
While the move was not entirely unexpected, the timing was a surprise.
Indy (3-5) lost 29-26 to unbeaten Carolina in overtime on Monday night, and now has a short week to prepare for Peyton Manning and the unbeaten Denver Broncos. Most people around town thought the schedule might force the Colts to wait till next week, their bye week, to make a change.
But Pagano decided to make a change right now, putting Chudzinski, the former Cleveland Browns coach, in charge of play-calling.
Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
