The Indianapolis Colts dismissed general manager Chris Ballard on Monday, one day after a 26-20 home loss to the Tennessee Titans. The Colts were 2-4 when the team announced the decision, according to the supplied report.
Owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon said the move was intended to address the franchise’s ambitions. In a statement, she said the organization’s standard was to compete for championships and that she viewed a change in leadership as necessary. She added that making the change during the season was deliberate, saying a later decision would postpone work she believed needed to begin immediately.
Sports commentator Dan Dakich said he supported Ballard’s dismissal but criticized the Colts for not acting sooner. On his program, “Don’t @ Me,” Dakich called Ballard the worst general manager in NFL history and argued the team had kept him in the role for years despite what Dakich viewed as poor results. Those remarks are Dakich’s assessment, not a conclusion established by the report.
Dakich also said he had questioned Ballard’s leadership publicly before the firing. The report says he tagged Irsay-Gordon in a post on X on Sunday, after the Titans game, asking how he had recognized Ballard was not suited to the job when she had not.
Ballard was hired by Indianapolis in January 2017. During his tenure, the Colts did not win the AFC South and reached the playoffs twice, according to the source. The team won one postseason game, in 2018. The article also relays Dakich’s criticism of the team’s drafting, spending and relationship with fans; those characterizations are his claims and are not independently substantiated in the supplied material.
The announcement came during the regular season, with Indianapolis at 2-4. Irsay-Gordon’s statement framed the timing as a choice to start the organization’s work on leadership change without waiting until later. The source does not identify a successor to Ballard or describe who will assume his responsibilities in the interim.
