Shane Steichen's Aggressiveness Gives Colts an Edge

Flash back to earlier this year, and the Colts jumped out to an early lead on the Titans back in week three. An early interception returned for a touchdown by Kenny Moore II vaulted the Colts out in front early, and the team cruised to a 17-0 lead after the first quarter. The game tightened up a bit in the second, however, as the Titans put up six points and were driving into the Colts' territory late in the half.

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The Titans faced a crucial fourth and one situation from the Colts' 39 yard line with 42 seconds left in the half. While it may have seemed unlikely the Titans would get a touchdown on the drive, the logical - and aggressive - call here would be to go for the fourth down, hopefully convert, and make the field goal shorter (and with less time) to end the half.

Instead, then-Head Coach Brian Callahan took a delay of game with his kicking unit out on the field, leading to a 62-yard attempt that was blocked by Grover Stewart. The Colts then drove down and kicked a field goal just as the half expired. Scared and cowardly coaching by the Titans turned a potential eight-point game into a 14-point game at halftime.

Jumping ahead to this past Sunday's game, and the Titans' new coach Mike McCoy suffered from the same cowardice as the previous one. The Titans were trailing coming out of the half, but they had a chance to cut it to a one score game with a good drive to start the third quarter. They moved the ball down to the Colts' 42 yard line and ran it on third down to set up a fourth and three opportunity.

Rather than going for it, as a 1-6 team on the road with a chance to play spoiler, they inexplicably punted the ball back to the Colts' historic offense. The very next play Jonathan Taylor exploded down the sidelines for an 80-yard touchdown, turning the game into a three-score game before the Titans even knew it.

I've focused a lot on the Titans in this piece thus far, but the Colts have been the complete opposite in their two match-ups with their bottom-feeding divisional foes. The Colts went 3-3 in Titans' territory this year on fourth down, with two of those drives resulting in touchdowns soon after the fourth down conversion.

The overall premise of this piece is that the Colts would have never even considered punting (or kicking) in those two situations. The Titans were likely going to lose regardless, but their cowardice led to the Colts routing them in both match-ups.

Shane Steichen may not be the perfect coach, but Colts fans never have to worry about him being a coward in these situations. Sure, there have been some situations where the Colts value eating the clock a bit more than aggressiveness, and it has come back to bite them, but Steichen trusts his offense at the end of the day to get the job done.

In the modern NFL, that type of mindset is needed to survive. The Titans are already on their second head coach this season partly due to their passive approach, and they'll be looking for another one in the offseason. Steichen, and game manager Charlie Gelman, are as aggressive as it gets, and it has led to further success for the Colts in 2025.