Pro Football Talk reporter Myles Simmons has claimed that Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich is under severe pressure to perform well this season.

Having spent a lot of his coaching career as an assistant, working his way up from being a positional coach with the Indianapolis Colts, the Arizona Cardinals and the then-San Diego Chargers, it wasn’t until Frank Reich became the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles and helped guide them to a Super Bowl victory with Carson Wentz at quarterback that the league began to take notice.

It was his performances there that earned him the head coaching role with the Colts following the departure of Chuck Pagano after the 2017 season, where it’s fair to say that things have been slightly bumpy for him when it comes to trying to get some success.

They have only made the playoffs twice in the first four seasons he has been there, but in amongst all of that has been a quarterback carousel that would leave anybody dizzy to think about. Having inherited Andrew Luck, he only lasted one season before retiring through injury and they’ve been trying ever since to fill that gap, with Jacoby Brissett taking the starters role in 2019, Philip Rivers - who Reich worked with in San Diego - in 2020, Wentz in 2021, whilst this year will see Matt Ryan be the man under centre.

The Colts have all of the pieces that they need to become a successful side, with perennial All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard leading a defence that has finished inside the top ten for points conceded three times under Reich, Quenton Nelson another All-Pro regular anchoring the offensive line that allows Jonathan Taylor - who led the league in rushing yards and touchdowns in 2021 - to dominate on the ground.

But still it hasn’t turned into any form of success, with the Colts last year falling at the final hurdle as they suffered a terrible loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18 that cost them a spot in the playoffs, a spot that would ultimately go to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On the hot seat? 

And it’s those performances that leave Myles Simmons to believe that Reich could be coaching for his job this season and that he is under serious pressure to perform.

He gave his views on an edition of Pro Football Talk (3:50): 

“Somebody that's under pressure, Frank Reich. 

“The Colts have to be better this year. And they went out, they got Matt Ryan after they decided that they wanted nothing to do anymore with Carson Wentz, which is still kind of wild that they just say ‘bye Carson, we're gonna figure out the quarterback position. We don't care what it is, it just is not going to be you.’

“And they were fortunate that Matt Ryan became available and I think that he is probably one of the best options that they could get. But you cannot have another late-season collapse like they did last year when they lost to the Raiders and then they lost to the Jaguars and missed out on the postseason. 

“You've got guys like Jonathan Taylor, who are elite. Darius Leonard, he's dealing with some injuries, but he's another elite guy that's on that team. So they've got to be better and they've got to make it to the postseason.”

And you have to think that Simmons has a point there, because when you have a team like the Colts, the least that should be expected is a deep run in the playoffs, rather than a one-and-done scenario, and if that doesn’t happen this year, it isn’t impossible to think that Reich could be looking for work elsewhere at the start of 2023.