Three seasons into Shane Steichen’s tenure, one fact overshadows everything else: no playoff appearances. Ranking Colts head coaches raises the question of where Steichen belongs, especially with Indianapolis having missed the postseason since 2020-21, tied for the third-longest drought in the NFL. It’s the primary reason that, despite never having a worse record than 8-9, Steichen’s seat will be scorching hot if the Colts miss the playoffs again this year.
Steichen’s primary struggle has been finding consistency at quarterback. Anthony Richardson was drafted No. 4 overall to be the franchise signal-caller in Steichen’s first season, but injuries and accuracy woes forced Gardner Minshew (2023) and Joe Flacco (2024) to fill in. Then last season there appeared to be a breakthrough, as Daniel Jones led the team to an 8-2 start. Alas, Jones suffered a torn Achilles in Week 14 as the Colts lost their final seven games.
Steichen is generally respected among his peers, but what exactly should be made of his 9-8, 8-9 and 8-9 records through three seasons? If the Colts miss the playoffs yet again, will Steichen lose his job? And where does he fit in among every head coach the Colts have had in Indianapolis?
Ranking Colts Head Coaches
Here’s how we rank all 11 head coaches who have guided the team since its move to Indiana in 1984. (Interim coaches do not qualify — see below.)
1. Tony Dungy (Indianapolis coach: 2002-2008. Record: 85-27)
Dungy’s No. 1 and it’s not even close. His 85-27 record is tied for the second-highest winning percentage in NFL history among coaches with at least 100 games. He won the team’s only Super Bowl in Indianapolis (XLI) while becoming the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl, and he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016. He made the playoffs all seven seasons he was Colts coach. Dungy also won a Super Bowl as a player in 1978 with the Steelers. And if you think his Colts success was primarily due to Peyton Manning, Dungy had previously taken over a historically awful Buccaneers team (13 straight losing seasons) in 1996 and turned them into a perennial playoff contender.
2. Jim Caldwell (Indianapolis coach: 2009-2011. Record: 26-22)
If you’re one of only two Indianapolis coaches to ever lead the Colts to a Super Bowl, you belong in the top two. Hand-picked as Dungy’s successor, Caldwell won his first 14 games as head coach and guided that team to Super Bowl XLIV, where they fell to the Saints. Caldwell won the AFC South in two of his three seasons. His third and final season proved to be his downfall — he went 2-14 — but that was largely due to Peyton Manning’s absence following neck surgery. If there’s a coach out there who can go from Manning to Curtis Painter and keep winning, we’d like to meet him.
3. Chuck Pagano (Indianapolis coach: 2012-17. Record: 53-43)
Pagano became only the second coach in history to win 11 games in each of his first three seasons. Those seasons were quarterbacked by Andrew Luck, and the Colts reached the playoffs in all three. Pagano also reached the AFC Championship Game (losing to the Patriots in the Deflategate game). In his final three seasons, though, Pagano’s teams regressed, dipping to 4-12 in his final year.
4. Ted Marchibroda (Indianapolis coach: 1992-1995. Record: 30-34)
If you were to factor in Marchibroda’s entire career as Colts coach — not just Indianapolis Colts — he’d belong higher on this list. His four seasons in Indy began with three non-playoff years, but his final season saw two playoff wins as the Colts reached the AFC Championship Game in 1995 — the franchise’s first true signature moment in Indianapolis, falling one dropped pass in the final seconds against the Steelers short of a Super Bowl berth. Marchibroda left the following offseason due to a contract dispute. He had first coached the Baltimore Colts from 1975-1979, leading them to three consecutive AFC East titles.
5. Frank Reich (Indianapolis coach: 2018-22. Record: 40-33-1)
Reich famously had a different starting quarterback in each season he coached, yet still managed to field highly ranked offenses and reach the playoffs twice, winning one playoff game. Not bad for a coach who was clearly the Colts’ second choice, getting the job only after Josh McDaniels backed out.
6. Jim Mora (Indianapolis coach: 1998-2001. Record: 32-32)
“Playoffs? Don’t talk about … playoffs.” Mora is remembered for that sound bite more than anything else, but he engineered a 10-game turnaround in his first two seasons, the largest in NFL history at the time. Mora’s first season was with a rookie Peyton Manning as the Colts went 3-13, but they went 13-3 the next year. His teams reached the playoffs twice; he had previously lead the Saints to the playoffs four times — the first four in New Orleans franchise history.
7. Ron Meyer (Indianapolis coach: 1986-1991. Record: 33-35)
Meyer’s era is linked with Eric Dickerson, who he also coached at SMU. Dickerson helped lead the Colts to the playoffs in 1987, Meyer’s first full season, following the blockbuster trade with the Rams and Bills. It was the franchise’s first division title and playoff appearance since moving to Indianapolis, but Meyer’s teams would never reach the postseason again. Meyer never finished worse than 7-9 in any of his four full seasons.
8. Shane Steichen (Indianapolis coach: 2023-Present. Record: 25-26)
Steichen has won at least eight games in each of his three seasons, but with no playoff appearances. Every coach ranked above him on this list made the postseason at least once. Steichen has had to navigate the choppy waters of the failed Anthony Richardson gamble — waters that necessitated turning to 39-year-old Joe Flacco in 2024 and 44-year-old grandpa Philip Rivers in 2025 due to quarterback attrition — but there’s a growing sense that he’ll soon have to make the playoffs or else.
9. Lindy Infante (Indianapolis coach: 1996-97. Record: 12-20)
After a 4-0 start to his head coaching career, Infante went 8-20 the rest of the way. He did lead the Colts to a playoff berth in his first year, which was Marvin Harrison’s rookie campaign. However, Infante started 0-10 in Year 2 before getting fired. Not that it helps Infante, but the silver lining to that 3-13 season in 1997 was that it led to the Colts drafting Peyton Manning with the No. 1 pick the following April.
10. Rod Dowhower (Indianapolis coach: 1985-86. Record: 8-24)
A truly dismal two-year stretch saw Dowhower go 5-11 in 1985, then lose his first 13 games in 1986. In danger of suffering the NFL’s first winless 16-game season, the Colts fired Dowhower after that 0-13 start and hired Meyer — who amazingly came in and won the last three games that year as the Colts finished 3-13.
11. Frank Kush (Indianapolis coach: 1984. Record: 4-11)
Kush, who had a reputation as a drill-sergeant taskmaster, won only four games in Indianapolis and is last on this list. He had coached two seasons in Baltimore before the team’s move, finishing with an overall record as Colts coach of 11-29-1. With just one game remaining in the 1984 season, he resigned to join the USFL. The ironic part of Kush’s legacy is that he indirectly played a role in the Colts winding up in Indianapolis. Due to his reputation, John Elway refused to play for the Colts, who held the No. 1 pick in the 1983 draft. It forced a trade, with Elway winding up in Denver. Had Elway happily signed with the Colts, the franchise might have gained the political and financial leverage needed to secure a new stadium deal in Maryland — completely altering NFL history.
Ranking Colts Head Coaches: The Interims
As for the interim coaches in Indianapolis: Bruce Arians went an amazing 9-3 in 2012, when Pagano was battling cancer. It earned Arians AP Coach of the Year honors. Jeff Saturday led the team for the final eight games after Reich was fired in 2022, winning his first game and losing the final seven. And in 1984, Hal Hunter took over for one game after Frank Kush bolted for the USFL — the Colts lost that game to the Patriots.
Main Image: Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
