INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano arrived at training camp in early August with his future with the organization shaky after an offseason where he turned down a one-year contract extension.
Pagano had faith that the roster the Colts assembled in the offseason and his coaching ability would be enough to give him the upper hand in contract negotiations because he believed he had a team that could contend for the Super Bowl.
A less-than-impressive start to the season coupled with the worst play call of his head-coaching career Sunday likely didn't help Pagano's cause of landing another contract with Indianapolis.
Pagano tried to outsmart Bill Belichick with a fake punt attempt that didn’t fool the Patriots. What was only a six-point deficit turned into a 13-point hole six plays after the failed trick play.
A victory would have helped Pagano's cause, but instead, the Colts lost 34-27 and ended up being a laughingstock on television, radio and social media Monday after their blunder. Even the University of Maine football team trolled the Colts on Twitter.
“You’re sitting there and you’re going to play it over and over and over in your head and ask 'just let me fall asleep for a couple hours please,’ but everybody goes through that,” Pagano said. “So get a couple hours and life goes on. You’ve got to get up and you’ve got to move on. Just like I told the players, ‘You’re going to face adversity. You’re going to get knocked down, but you’ve got to get up. You’ve got to dust yourself off and you’ve got to move on.’ We cannot have a hangover from this deal.”
Pagano said he doesn’t regret the call, but it couldn't have helped him when his future with the Colts is as murky as the Florida swamps.
“We’re all in this together,” cornerback Darius Butler said. “We don’t point fingers at each other when things go wrong. We win together. We lose together. We all believe in Coach Pagano.”
General manager Ryan Grigson has gone dark since the start of the regular season, but you have to believe he wasn’t thrilled with the outcome of the play or the game. The same likely goes for owner Jim Irsay, who signed off on the offseason moves he believed could help the Colts win a Super Bowl.
The season is only six weeks old, but there’s no denying the pressure is mounting and will continue to mount after each loss for Pagano. The combined record of three of the Colts' next four opponents is 16-1.
“I think this team can play with anybody,” Pagano said. “I go back, and I hate to go back, but we’ve -- I think there was a year [2013] where we beat three of the four teams that ended up playing in both conference championships, if I remember. I know and I believe that this team can play with anybody.”
The clock is ticking on Pagano to prove his team can play with anybody.