Reich’s departure comes in the wake of Sunday’s 26-3 defeat to the New England Patriots, which leaves the Colts 3-5-1 on the year following three straight defeats.
Team owner Jim Irsay confirmed initial reports of Reich’s dismissal from NFL Network on Twitter, making him the second in-season head coach firing after the Carolina Panthers parted ways with Matt Rhule.
He leaves with a 40-33-1 record in Indianapolis having reached the playoffs on two occasions, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2018 AFC Divisional Round playoff before falling to the Buffalo Bills in their Wild Card match-up in 2020.
Indianapolis recorded just 121 yards of total offense against the Patriots at the weekend, marking their fewest in a game since 1997, while quarterback Sam Ehlinger was sacked nine times in the game.
The result may have marked the final straw for Reich’s tenure, but the writing had arguably long-been on the wall such has been the franchise’s struggle to tie down a Super Bowl calibre-quarterback with which to lead a talented roster during the 60-year-old’s time as head coach.
Ehlinger, a sixth-round pick out of Texas in 2021, has been thrust in under center towards the end of October as he took over from Matt Ryan, who struggled to make an impact over the first half of the campaign after arriving in the offseason via a trade from the Atlanta Falcons.
The Colts’ offense ranks among the least productive in the league with 2021 rushing leader Jonathan Taylor struggling to match last season’s supremacy and Indy’s previously-dominant offensive line having suffered a drastic decline. Reich’s exit comes just a week after the firing of offensive coordinator Marcus Brady.
The franchise has tried and failed to find a long-term successor to Andrew Luck since his surprise retirement ahead of the 2019 season, Philip Rivers and Carson Wentz spending a season apiece with the team in 2020 and 2021, respectively, but falling short of proving the final piece to the jigsaw.
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