The long MLK Day weekend gave us some pretty compelling football, wouldn't you say? From Green Bay choking away a fifteen win season to New Orleans being exposed as a 'soft' road team, once again. Toss in a Houston implosion at Baltimore, and I'd say that three-out-of-four interesting playoff games counts as a winner for the NFL.
While it was certainly enjoyable for someone like me to see the Texans lose, the real story for us Colts fans is the fate of head coach Jim Caldwell.
Indianapolis sports radio host Jake Query used Twitter over the weekend to post this little bombshell:
#JimCaldwell will be retained as Head Coach of the #Indianapolis #Colts. Official announcement to come within 4 days.
— Jake Query (@jakequery) January 14, 2012
Indy Star columnist Bob Kravitz seemed to take Query's news with a grain of salt:
No disrespect to @jakequery but tweeted Jan 1 that Caldwell was out, and later that day tweet BillP was gonna be consultant and Chris stays.
— BobKravitz (@bkravitz) January 14, 2012
Small side note, whenever someone starts a sentence with 'no disrespect,' they are going to disrespect you. Query responded to Kravitz's attack on his credibility:
@bkravitz Never tweeted he was out. Said I was told but couldn't confirm. Said on radio BP out 2 weeks before he was. Said 18 out all year.
— Jake Query (@jakequery) January 14, 2012
While Query and Kravitz were fighting on Twitter, CBS Sports NFL analyst and former Houston Texans general manager Charlie Casserly reported that new Colts G.M. Ryan Grigson is expected to meet with Jim Caldwell this week. After that meeting, Grigson will make his recommendation to owner Jim Irsay as to whether or not to retain Caldwell as head coach.
Based on that language, the firing of Caldwell will not be Grigson's decision to make. It will be Irsay's.
At his introductory press conference, Grigson said he'd never spoken to Caldwell until that day. It's unconfirmed if Grigson will recommend to Irsay that Caldwell should stay. If he opts to do that, the 'new era' slogan that Irsay keeps throwing around when describing the 2012 Colts will fall on deaf ears. Plus, there just isn't any compelling reason to keep Caldwell. Kravitz actually summed it up best:
Re: Colts/Caldwell. If you're in a bad marriage, you don't wait for somebody better to come along to get out of the marriage. #loveyahoney
— BobKravitz (@bkravitz) January 14, 2012
Like Kravitz, I expect Jim Caldwell to be fired. If he's not, Ryan Grigson will look inept in his first major decision as general manager, and Jim Irsay's 'new era' slogan will be out of style faster than 'Discount Double Check.'