NFL Schedule Delay Could Give Colts Fans One More Week of False Hope Before Reality Sets In

Let me be straight with you. The NFL is going to release the schedule whenever it wants to release the schedule, and honestly, the timing of the 2024 schedule reveal is the least of the Indianapolis Colts' problems right now. But since we're talking about it, and since Colts fans are desperately grasping at any narrative that might suggest their team is headed somewhere good, let's discuss why this potential delay to the week of May 18 actually matters more for Indianapolis than it does for 31 other franchises in this league.

The Colts are in a weird spot. They're not quite a playoff team, not quite a rebuild, and certainly not a contender anymore. They're stuck in that purgatory where hope is a dangerous thing because it prevents you from making real decisions. When the schedule comes out, every Colts fan in Indianapolis is going to sit down with a spreadsheet and start circling wins. They're going to tell themselves that this is the year, that this is the schedule they can work with, that maybe, just maybe, Jonathan Taylor gets healthy and Anthony Richardson learns how to throw a football that doesn't wobble like a wounded duck.

The delay until the week of May 18, if it happens, gives Colts Nation one additional week to live in that fantasy world. One more week before cold, hard reality crashes through the window like a rock through glass.

Here's the thing that everyone needs to understand about the Indianapolis Colts organization. They've been living off fumes since Peyton Manning left town. Sure, they had Andrew Luck for a while, and that looked promising until his entire body decided to revolt against him. Then they tried to win with a defense and an aging Carson Wentz, which worked about as well as you'd expect. Now they're betting the farm on Richardson, a quarterback who was drafted early but looks completely lost when the pressure actually matters. The schedule release is supposed to be this exciting moment, but for Colts fans, it's just another reminder that their team needs to win games they probably shouldn't win to sneak into the playoffs as a wild card.

Let's talk about what this delay actually means in practical terms. If the schedule comes out on May 13 instead of May 18, that's five extra days that Colts fans don't have to confront the brutal truth of their strength of schedule. And let me tell you, strength of schedule matters. The Colts are always going to be in a competitive AFC South with the Jacksonville Jaguars finally getting their act together and the Tennessee Titans still being dangerous. Add in the fact that they have to play the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills in their division cycles, and you're already looking at a gauntlet before you even look at the rest of the schedule.

The funny thing is, people keep talking about the Colts like they're a team on the cusp of something. Jim Irsay has spent money like a drunken sailor, bringing in pieces on the offensive line and trying to build around Richardson. But here's my honest assessment: it doesn't matter if the schedule comes out May 13 or May 18 because the Colts' problems aren't about timing or schedule luck. They're about fundamental organizational incompetence at the quarterback position.

Richardson was handed the starting job after the team gave up a bounty to move up in the draft, and he's shown flashes of absolute incompetence mixed with occasional moments that remind you why he was drafted highly. That's not a recipe for success. That's a recipe for being a seventh-seed that gets demolished in the wild card round. The Colts are going to win some games because their defense has pieces and their running game can be effective when healthy. But they're going to lose games they shouldn't lose because their quarterback will throw two interceptions in critical moments or make reads so slowly that the opposing pass rush will be having a conversation before the play develops.

This is where the schedule delay becomes almost cruel for Colts fans. A week longer to dream before the schedule reveals a brutal stretch of games from September through November is a week longer to torture yourself. You're going to get excited about a home game against the Patriots in Week 9, convince yourself the defense will shut down Tua Tagovailoa when Miami comes to town, and then reality will set in when you see that the Colts have to win in Buffalo in a late November game with the wind howling and the temperature at fifteen degrees.

The Colts' front office should be using the next month to make real decisions about their direction. Are they committed to Richardson long term? Are they going to trade for a veteran quarterback? Are they going to accept that they might need to tank and get a real franchise quarterback in the next draft? Instead, they're probably going to spend this time rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, making minor roster additions that might win them three or four more games than they should have any business winning.

Here's what I know about the Indianapolis Colts. They're a middling franchise with delusions of competence. They have one of the best stadiums in football, they have decent facilities, and they have fans who desperately want to believe in their team. But they keep making the kinds of decisions that keep them stuck in the middle. They're too good to get great draft picks, and they're not good enough to win meaningful playoff games. It's a vicious cycle, and it's been going on for over a decade now.

The schedule delay, if it happens, is actually perfect for this franchise because it gives them one more week to pretend things are going to be different. One more week for Colts Nation to believe that maybe, just maybe, this is going to be the year. One more week before the schedule comes out and fans realize that they're probably going to lose the division, fight for a wild card spot, and get eliminated in the first round if they make it at all.

I'm giving the Colts a C minus for their current trajectory and their ability to actually make noise in 2024. Richardson needs to prove he's not just another first-round bust. The offensive line needs to stay healthy. The defense needs to perform at a high level. That's a lot of things that need to go right for a team that hasn't shown it can consistently execute when it matters.

The schedule can't fix what's broken in Indianapolis. Whenever it comes out, May 13 or May 18, it's just going to confirm what everyone with honest eyes already knows. The Colts are hoping lightning strikes, and in the NFL, hope isn't a strategy.

Verdict: Stop pretending the schedule release is going to change anything. The Colts' problems run much deeper than favorable matchups or an easy path through December. They need quarterback competence and they don't have it yet. That's the story, not when the NFL decides to reveal the schedule.