Frank Reich was not on the Colts' initial shortlist of head coaching candidates before they decided on and were burned by Josh McDaniels.
Even if he was, he wouldn't have known.
Because when Reich, introduced as the Colts' head coach on Tuesday, was still the Eagles' offensive coordinator, he was singularly focused on the playoffs. In fact, he wasn't prepared to even talk about another job while the Eagles were making their run to Super Bowl LII.
Reich told his agent, Bob LaMonte, to hold his calls.
"The stance that I took with my agent," Reich said, "the words were basically this: 'I'm going dark. I'm focused on the task at hand. And that's to help our team win playoff games and win the Super Bowl.'
"And that meant no phone calls, no texts. Now, whether there was any activity or not, I was dark. I was focused on one thing. And after experiencing that and the importance of every detail in preparation for those games, I wouldn't change a thing."
That was a pretty big gamble for Reich. While John DeFilippo took a couple head coach interviews during the bye week, Reich didn't. That could have very well ruled him out from getting a top job and, really, it did until McDaniels backed out in Indy.
NFL
Both Colts owner Jim Irsay and GM Chris Ballard said on Wednesday that they realized how big of a mistake it was to not include Reich on their original shortlist once they interviewed him for the job.
"The more I think about it, the more I think how could you be so stupid and not see the clarity of it sooner?" Irsay said.
Even after McDaniels backed out of the Colts job, Reich said he never called his agent about Indy. He hoped the Colts would be interested but he wasn't going to chase them. If they didn't call, he was prepared to go back to work as the Eagles' offensive coordinator. Instead, he's one of 32 NFL head coaches.
Reich's shining moment of his press conference came when he was asked if he loved or hated McDaniels for what happened.
"The backup role has suited me well in my career," Reich returned, brilliantly.
Of course, everything worked out great for Reich. His "dark" period didn't stop him from getting a job. In a weird way, it might have helped. And he was able to devote all of his energy to the Eagles' playoff run and he'll now get a Super Bowl ring out of it.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.