One of the most common responses to Tuesday’s news that the Colts fired offensive coordinator Marcus Brady was that he was taking the fall for the shortcomings of others.
Head coach Frank Reich was at the top of the list, particularly because he’s the one calling the plays for a Colts offense than just replaced its starting quarterback in another grasp at finding something that will work for the team. Reich said it can be true that Brady is “a really good coach” and that the change “just makes sense for the team” before being asked if Brady was a scapegoat for those further up the chain of command.
“I understand that — that should fall on me,” Reich said, via Zak Keefer of TheAthletic.com. “Marcus isn’t being scapegoated. I have to own that. We’re all responsible.”
There’s a long history of coordinators being fired when things aren’t going right during a season. The moves are sometimes followed by a turnaround in the standings, but they’re often a prelude to bigger changes and firing Brady leaves Reich without too much cover should things fail to improve over the rest of the season.
