How Colts Owner Bizarrely Explained Surprising Jeff Saturday Hire

To put it mildly, the Colts didn’t choose the conventional route for naming their interim head coach.

A vacancy atop Indianapolis’ coaching staff was created after the organization fired Frank Reich on Monday, one day after the Colts dropped to 3-5-1 with an ugly road loss to the New England Patriots. Instead of turning to an internal option with a bevy of experience — like Gus Bradley or John Fox — Indy handed over the keys to old pal Jeff Saturday, a former center who never has coached above the high school level.

The decision left the entire football world scratching their hands, and the defense Colts owner Jim Irsay delivered Monday evening didn’t do much to quell the confusion.

“I’m glad he doesn’t have any NFL experience,” Irsay told reporters, per NFL.com. “I’m glad he hasn’t learned the fear that’s in this league, because it’s tough for all our coaches. They’re afraid. They go to analytics and it gets difficult. He doesn’t have all that. He doesn’t have that fear. And there was no other candidate. We were fortunate he was available. And he has tons of experience. He knows this game inside and out with relationships with coaches and players.

“I understand that he’s fully capable of doing this.”

While Irsay couldn’t sound more confident in Saturday’s ability to lead the Colts, it sure feels like this already messy situation has a chance to go even more haywire. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter pointed out after he broke the Saturday news, the Colts currently don’t have anyone on their coaching staff who has called plays at the NFL level before.

That’s something Saturday will quickly have to figure out before Sunday’s road matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders.