Super Bowl Pre-Game Reading, Colts Targeting Steichen, Coordinator Hires, and Other NFL Bullets
Well, we made it! It’s Super Bowl Sunday. It’s a beautiful day in the Chicagoland area, and I’m ready to fire the grill up and enjoy the game. But first, thank you to everyone who followed along with our coverage of the NFL playoffs these past few weeks. I’ve had a blast doing this, and I’m excited for the offseason ahead.
- While the Cardinals and the Colts are waiting for the Super Bowl to end to resume their coaching searches (officially, anyway), some news surfaced this morning on the head coaching front. Adam Schefter reported that the Colts have begun informing candidates that they are out of the running for the job.
- One of those candidates is one-time favorite Jeff Saturday. At one point, Saturday seemed to be the favorite of Jim Irsay. However, now it appears that Irsay and the Colts are going in a different direction. According to Schefter, the Colts are targeting Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen for their head coach vacancy.
- Steichen seems to be another signal that the Colts are gearing up to draft a quarterback. Since Andrew Luck retired, the Colts have been in the short-term solution market for the quarterback situation. However, the Colts have moved on from that path and are now focused on a long-term solution at the game’s most premium position.
- Steichen’s time with the Eagles featured him helping unlock Jalen Hurts’ potential. Steichen and Nick Sirianni are primarily responsible for Hurts turning into an MVP candidate in line for a massive contract extension.
- This is shaping up perfectly for the Bears. Steichen landing the head coaching job almost assures that the Colts will look to draft a quarterback in April. They’ll likely look to jump ahead of their division rivals in Houston, who will be looking to do the same. A divisional bidding war for the preferred quarterback is excellent news for the Bears.
- Speaking of the Texans, DeMeco Ryans continues to fill out his coaching staff in Houston. Ryans reportedly hired former Cardinals defensive line coach Matt Burke on Saturday. Today Tom Pelissero said that Ryans would hire Bobby Slowik as his offensive coordinator.
- Slowik and Ryans worked together in San Francisco. Slowik spent the 2022 season as the 49ers passing game coordinator and has 10 seasons of NFL coaching experience. He started with the 49ers in 2017 as the team’s defensive quality control coach before becoming an offensive assistant and then an offensive passing game specialist.
- This move comes just days after Ryans and the Texans reportedly met with former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury about the same position.
- In other coaching news, the Cardinals are set to meet with Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon on Monday. At this point, it seems likely that Gannon is the fit in Arizona. So, the Eagles could lose their offensive and defensive coordinators just a day after playing in the Super Bowl.
- Sean Payton is out here doing the NFL coaching version of sliding in the DMs:
- I put together paths to victory for the Eagles and Chiefs on Saturday if you haven’t checked them out yet, here they are. As always, a share on your various social media platforms is always appreciated.
- Alright, I’ve got some work on the grill and some prep work for the game coverage tonight. So, I’m going to wrap this up. But first, please give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook if you’re not already. Talk to you guys this evening!
