Indianapolis Colts fans who expected sweeping changes were left disappointed. Team owner Jim Irsay ensured that continuity would be the path forward when he announced Sunday night via social media that GM Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen would be retained in 2025.

“It’s huge, obviously, to have the support of the owner moving forward,” Steichen said Monday. “Got a lot of respect for Mr. Irsay and what he stands for and the person he is, and it means a lot.”

Ballard and Steichen’s contracts run through 2026 and 2028, respectively, but the public vote of confidence from Irsay was revealing. His stance seems to indicate that he views Ballard, Steichen and quarterback Anthony Richardson — whom team sources have said will be the starter again in 2025 — as a package deal that he’s not ready to break up, even after a frustrating 8-9 finish in 2024 that included several lowlights.

The Colts failed to win their season opener for an 11th straight year, lost their 10th straight road game against the Jaguars and haven’t won the AFC South title in 10 years. Oh, and Richardson got benched halfway through the season because of poor preparation and then reintroduced questions about his ability to stay healthy by missing the final two games of the season — one of which was a Week 17 loss to the lowly Giants that eliminated Indianapolis from postseason contention for a fourth straight season — with a back injury.

The outrage among the team’s fanbase over what many supporters view as Irsay’s complacency with mediocrity has been prevalent and justified. Steichen, Ballard and Richardson all suffered through disappointing seasons, and pitchforks were brought out for all three. The frustration with Ballard is perhaps the most warranted among the three. The GM is now 62-69-1 through eight seasons in Indianapolis. He has just two playoff appearances, one postseason win and zero AFC South titles, yet he appears to have nine lives, as he’ll be brought back for a ninth campaign.

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It’s hard to argue that retaining Ballard was the right decision given his middling résumé, but for the “Get Ballard out of here!” crowd or even the “Get everyone out of here!” crowd, this is the bed Irsay and the Colts have made for themselves, and regardless of which side of the fence you fall on, they weren’t interested in the alternatives.

Why? Frankly, the alternatives aren’t all that appealing — unless the team was ready to completely start over at QB, coach and GM. But let’s start with the idea of firing Ballard and keeping Steichen and Richardson. The new GM would inherit a coach and quarterback he didn’t choose. How compelling would that job be if the new boss can’t choose his two most important coworkers? And on the other side, how fair of a shake would Steichen and Richardson really get in Year 3 under a GM who didn’t hire the coach or draft the QB? How invested would that new GM be in making that tandem work? It almost feels like a burning a season before the new GM decides to move in a different direction.

If the Colts moved on from Steichen, whose poor messaging created two significant PR messes for Richardson regarding his two-game benching and his latest back injury, Richardson would have to learn an entire new offense as he enters a critical third year. Richardson has enough troubles as he tries to develop into an NFL-caliber quarterback, let alone the face of a franchise. Asking him to learn a new playbook, too, now feels like asking him to fail.

#Colts Shane Steichen’s message to the team: “(Giannis) said there’s no failure in sports. … There’s frustration, disappointment. If you don’t win the SB, the 31 (other teams) did they have failed seasons? No. You learn and you grow … We’re gonna have a hell of an offseason …” pic.twitter.com/VYYKFxVkHf

— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) January 6, 2025

Finally, if the Colts moved on from Richardson, they’d either be forced to draft one in a few months, sign one in free agency or trade for one. Well, the draft doesn’t seem realistic, as Indianapolis has the No. 14 pick in what’s believed to be a weak quarterback class. Maaaaybe Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold makes it to the open market, but the Colts don’t have a long history of winning bidding wars, and there’d surely be one with other QB-desperate teams. Again, that’s only if the Vikings let Darnold hit the open market and don’t sign him to a long-term teal or franchise tag him.

After Darnold, there aren’t many appealing options left unless the likes of Jameis Winston or Justin Fields excites you.

Add it all together, and you can understand — frustrating though it may be — why Indianapolis chose to stick with Richardson, as well as the GM and coach who brought him to Indianapolis, for at least one more year before, perhaps, wiping the slate clean.

“It’s like driving your car down an expressway,” Irsay said at the NFL owners’ meetings in 2023, describing what it means to draft a QB in the first round months before selecting Richardson. “Once you make this choice, there’s not going to be an exit ramp for a while.”

That’s not say the clock isn’t ticking on Richardson, who’s been injured and inaccurate for most of his two years in the NFL. He’s missed 17 of 34 games due to various injuries, and his completion percentage dropped from 59.5 as a rookie to a league-worst and Colts franchise-worst 47.7 this season.

Next year feels like it will be a make-or-break year for Richardson — though that statement feels ironic given how many chances Ballard has received — if he isn’t more available and more accurate. Asked about the pressure and expectations that lie ahead, Richardson said Monday it was natural for people to expect more from him as he flips the page to Year 3.

“I guess every day could be a make-it or break-it day for me. I try not to think about it like that,” he said. ” … I just gotta make sure I’m on point, doing my job, doing everything I can to help this organization go in the right direction.”

Richardson added that he has a lot of faith in Ballard and Steichen as the three of them forge ahead to what he hopes are better days. But the 22-year-old would be wise to remember that if he doesn’t improve, he may not receive the elongated grace Ballard has. After all, as Richardson found out when he was benched just 10 starts into his career for 39-year-old Joe Flacco, the 2023 No. 4 pick can still lose his job – even if it seems like his GM can’t.

Asked how he’d feel if the Colts signed another starting-caliber QB this offseason to challenge him for the top spot, Richardson didn’t shy away from the idea.

“I’m a natural competitor. I’ve been competing all my life. I love competing,” he said. “So, if the team feels like that’s the right direction that we want to go in, then I’m all for it, I’m competing. If not, I’m still here competing, working my tail off to be the best version (of myself) that I can for this team.”

(Photo of Chris Ballard and Anthony Richardson: Darron Cummings / Associated Press)