Colts owner Jim Irsay tweets that it’s ‘clear as day’ how to win in NFL and it raises some questions

Jim Irsay couldn’t make it through the NFL playoffs without seemingly making a statement on the state of the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis had one of the bigger collapses in NFL history over the final two weeks of the season, needing just one win to make the playoffs in the final two weeks — with the Jacksonville Jaguars and their two wins as their final opponent.

The Colts didn’t win either of those games, missing the playoffs entirely and scoring just 31 combined points over their final two contests against the Raiders and Jaguars. A year after reaching the playoffs with a 39-year-old Philip Rivers and taking the Buffalo Bills to the final possession, the Colts traded a first and third-round pick for Carson Wentz and believed it was going to take their team to the hierarchy of the AFC. 

Instead, they missed the playoffs. Irsay had basically remained silent since then, but the divisional round got him to open up on Twitter.

Is that really the case? And does Irsay have a specific team or player in mind?

First, there are a few teams eliminated from the playoffs this weekend that would disagree with Irsay’s analysis. Look at the Green Bay Packers, who have a star QB and a defense that did its job, but it was mostly special teams blunders that caused their 13-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Here’s a look at the Packers’ special teams showing against the 49ers:

• Field goal blocked when leading 7-0 at the end of the first half
• Punt blocked returned for a touchdown to tie game at 10-10 in the fourth quarter
• Allowed 30.3 yards per punt return
• Had 10 men on the field on Robbie Gould’s game-winning field goal

The Packers also have that quarterback Irsay is talking about in Aaron Rodgers, who is the front-runner for NFL MVP this year. Rodgers finished 20 of 29 for 255 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions, as the Packers scored just one offensive touchdown in the loss. 

The Buffalo Bills also have the quarterback in Josh Allen, who finished 27 of 37 for 329 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions — yet still lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. Allen is the first quarterback in NFL history to have nine touchdowns and no interceptions in consecutive playoff games, yet the Bills are eliminated. The Chiefs beat the Bills … and allowed 36 points in the victory.

Which brings the final point. Was Irsay taking a shot at his own quarterback in Carson Wentz? 

Wentz played a huge role in the Colts’ collapse, completing just 58.9% of his passes for 333 yards with two touchdowns and an interception (80.6 rating) in the final two games. Wentz completed 62.4% of his passes for 3,563 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 94.6 passer rating for the season, a bounce-back after he was one of the worst quarterbacks in football in his final season with the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Wentz wasn’t as good in the second half as he was the first half, completing 61.1% of his passes for for 1,365 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions (87.1 rating). He averaged just 170.6 yards per game compared to 244.2 in the first half of the year, where Wentz completed 63.3% of his passes for 2,198 yards with 17 touchdowns to three interceptions (100.1 rating). 

The Colts haven’t committed to Wentz for 2022, which makes his future murky. Perhaps Irsay wasn’t thinking of Wentz with his tweet, but it’s worth wondering if he was.