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Chris Ballard, the General Manager of the Indianapolis Colts, chats with a player a couple of hours before kickoff against the 49ers Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Indianapolis Colts Visit The San Francisco 49ers For Nfl Week 7 At Levi S Stadium In Santa Clara Calif Sunday Oct 24 2021 Robert Scheer/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Colts and Packers Draw Puzzling Comparison as Blame Shifts

Originally posted on Indianapolis Colts on SI
By Jake Arthur | Last updated Jun 20, 2025 7:00 AM ET

The Indianapolis Colts have not made the postseason since 2020, when they got in as a wild-card team. Outside of that, they haven't won a playoff bid as a result of being the AFC South division champions since 2014.

There are numerous issues to point to as to why the Colts have lacked success over the last decade, but the biggest common denominator is general manager Chris Ballard, who holds a 62-69-1 record entering his ninth season at the helm, which just two playoff appearances and no division titles since becoming the GM in 2017.

Ballard is transparent with the media, both local and national, and he has built a roster that can tread water and hang around .500 despite not having solid quarterback play. That has earned him quite a bit of credibility over the years, and it recently manifested itself again on a national sports show.

While discussing the Green Bay Packers -- a team that has made the playoffs in five of the last six years -- Colin Cowherd of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" made a strange comparison between the Packers and Colts.

"I think what has happened to Green Bay, they're a little bit like the Indianapolis Colts. We like their GM, we like their roster, we're just not sure how great they are at quarterback." - Colin Cowherd pic.twitter.com/ug72r3zZAW
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 18, 2025

"I think what has happened to Green Bay, they're a little bit like the Indianapolis Colts," Cowherd said. "We like their GM, we like their roster, we're just not sure how great they are at quarterback. And they don't have a lot of, like, 'Oh my God' players... Green Bay, like Indy, has got a lot of nice players, and I like they're drafting and developing, but there's not a lot of 'Wow' guys on this roster."

There's a lot going on here. For one, it pins most of each team's issues on the quarterback position, which is a choice. The Colts would be lucky to have Packers quarterback Jordan Love. However, we'll just focus on the Colts for now.

To Cowherd's credit, the Colts' quarterback situation now, and since 2019 when Andrew Luck retired, has been kind of a mess. At least, to put it in the nicest terms, it's not what most teams would hope for. However, how have the Colts been on this roller coaster with quarterbacks for now, a seventh season?

The Colts did handle 2019 and 2020 well. Luck retired after free agency and the draft in 2019, so rolling with Jacoby Brissett was the only thing they could do. Getting Philip Rivers in 2020 was a wise decision because they had a win-now roster that got into the playoffs. However, what happened in 2021 with Carson Wentz? Or 2022 with Matt Ryan? The Colts drafted Anthony Richardson with the fourth-overall pick in 2023, but that so far has been a miss, as they now find themselves pitting Richardson versus Daniel Jones in a battle of two of the NFL's least-celebrated passers.

The person who builds that roster that lacks the "Oh my God!" players Cowherd referenced, and ultimately decides which quarterbacks come aboard, is Ballard. He does trust his head coaches with the guys that they want -- Rivers and Wentz were Frank Reich guys, and Shane Steichen was a big champion for Richardson -- but accountability has to be there at some point, at least from those of us covering these teams.

The Colts' ownership, from Jim Irsay and now to Carlie Irsay-Gordon, has shown confidence in Ballard and Steichen for now, but when we're discussing the Colts' biggest issues, we cannot just gloss over the decision-makers behind those issues.