For the past two days, the firing of Jim Caldwell has dominated the news as far as all things Colts. If you are a non Colts fan and happen to read some of the comments from Colts fans on any of the major blog/team news sites, you will come away with the impression that Caldwell is the "devil" himself. I have to admit I'm not shocked by the public reaction to the news of him being let go by the organization, but I am disappointed by the hypocrisy of it all. For starters, it is a well known fact that Coach Caldwell was basically a "yes man" to Bill Polian. This has been further confirmed by comments made by players such as Justin Tryon: "Caldwell wanted to start me but it wasn't up to him!" Tryon tweeted, according to ProFootballTalk.com . Another tweet later said: "IM BLESSED!! lay off of Caldwell he's a great coach! Peace." I ask the question then and will ask it again now: "How do you judge a coach who is not allowed to do his job?" I have read responses to this from those who say: "I blame Caldwell for being a yes man...He should have the balls to say no to BP and coach his on way." Are you kidding me? Has it ever occurred to any of you that Caldwell has to eat just like all of you do? I wonder if any of you critics if giving the chance to make a six figure income doing what Caldwell did would have "had the balls" to tell your boss: "No I'm going to coach this team my way." I seriously doubt it. Not with the threat of being fired before you could even finish pronouncing the last syllable from the word "no" by BP.

Where is the hypocrisy you ask? Let's go back to the year the Colts went to the SB against the Saints. When the Colts made it, all the "naysayers" gave most of the credit to Manning by saying: "Manning is the real coach of the team and Caldwell is just along for the ride," yet after losing the SB the same Caldwell critics put all of the blame on Caldwell and none of it on Manning. Classic comments like "Caldwell was out-coached in the SB" permeated through comment sections abroad. Again, are you kidding me? What happened to "Manning is the real coach of the Colts?" Had it ever occurred to any of you that it was Caldwell's 1st year as a head coach? To lead a team to the SB in your 1st year as an HC is not a bad way to start a job that not many ever get a chance to in the NFL. Sean Payton has been an HC longer than Caldwell has yet the Colts were in that game until the very end. In all honesty, it is unfair for anyone to judge Caldwell in a situation by which his hands were tied by his employers. If you think that should have had no effect on his coaching abilities you need to go and talk to the long list of coaches who've coached the Raiders. This is classic Al Davis at it's finest. When it comes to judging Caldwell, I will take the perspective his players had of him over the critics any day. They were in the locker room with him and know him best. His critics don't, and quite honestly, the man deserved a lot better than this from a spoiled fan base out of Indianapolis.