It’s clear now that Steichen was the brains of the Eagles’ operation. At least, offensively. Firing Brian Johnson, and possibly Nick Sirianni would be the easy part.’

The 2023 NFL season has officially reached the point where it’s time to start lobbying for postseason awards considering everything that’s been put on tape. The MVP picture is still muddy with roughly a month left to go in the season, but the NFL Coach of the Year award is taking clearer shape.

Let’s take note of what the criteria for Coach of the Year really is — it’s treated as an award for a coach whose team exceeded expectations, not necessarily the flat-out best coach in the NFL. Recent winners Brian Daboll and Mike Vrabel are great examples of that, finding a way to squeeze playoff seasons from teams that might not have had the most overwhelming rosters. Based on that criteria, Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen should easily be considered a frontrunner for the award.

Think about some of the things that the Colts have had to fight through this season. Star rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson went down early with a season-ending injury; Jonathan Taylor has been in and out of the lineup; they moved on from longtime linebacker Shaquille Leonard; and play in a division with the Jaguars and Texans. Through all of that, the Colts sit at 7-5 and own the seventh seed in the AFC with a tiebreaker over the Texans, giving them a little bit of co