It’s been a fascinating few months to be a fly on the wall in Jim Irsay’s office. There, you would have witnessed the moment he fired Frank Reich, the moment he installed Jeff Saturday as interim coach, the proceeding moments when Saturday went 1–7 and his team blew the biggest lead in NFL history, the moment when he seriously considered giving Saturday the full-time job, and the moment when he hired Shane Steichen as his next head coach.
In case you happen to be a fly who appreciates a good bit of irony, some of Steichen’s formative years came under the tutelage of Reich.
So it’s wild to say that what happens next, what Irsay will decide to do in the coming weeks, will be the most consequential in terms of the day-to-day operations of the franchise he runs. If it doesn’t emerge as the talk of this week’s scouting combine, where the owner and his general manager have most of the professional football world at their doorstep, it would be fair to wonder whether he’s fit to keep his hands on the steering wheel for much longer.
