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Earlier this year, Pat McAfee picked a fight with previously untouchable ESPN executive Norby Williamson. Two months later, Williamson was gone.
It was a sign that McAfee wields real power within the walls of ESPN, where he isn’t even an employee. (The network licenses his eponymous daily show and has a separate deal for his College GameDay appearances.) Now, he’s seeing just how far his word goes.
Can Pat McAfee, ESPN host and two-time Pro Bowl punter, get an NFL head coach fired?
McAfee would probably argue that if it goes down that way, Colts head coach Shane Steichen got himself fired. And after an embarrassing blowout loss Sunday to a Giants team that had been in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 pick, he’d probably be right. But McAfee has waged an unusually personal and intense campaign against Colts leadership that has brightened the spotlight on Steichen and forced him to respond directly.
McAfee has long positioned himself as a fan of the only NFL team he played for, and is a regular in a luxury box there. But the Indianapolis resident said he won’t renew his season tickets to watch the current Colts team.
The war between McAfee and the Colts started, somehow, with Colts players using McAfee on a YouTube graphic. Indianapolis linebacker Zaire Franklin—who hosts a YouTube show like McAfee—included McAfee’s face on a thumbnail for a November episode.
Though McAfee was not mentioned in the episode, Franklin criticized “the motherfuckers talking crazy on national television.” McAfee saw the thumbnail and pointed out that he was on the last four Colts teams to win a division title.
Franklin later extended the olive branch to McAfee, saying that the two “wanted the same things.” That wasn’t enough, apparently, as McAfee ended up going absolutely nuclear on the current Colts regime after Sunday’s disaster.
In a 557-word Twitter post—longer than this article to this point—McAfee tore into the Colts. While he did not directly call for the heads of Steichen and GM Chris Ballard, he left little doubt about what he thinks owner Jim Irsay should do.
“A blind person could see the red flags on this team,” he wrote. “Work ethic questions, NEVER happens on good teams.. Preparation commitment questions, NEVER happens on good teams.. Late to meetings, NEVER happens on good teams.. Late to/skipping treatment, NEVER happens on good teams.. The franchise QB tapped out of a game.. on 3rd down.. in the red zone.. because he was tired… NEVER HAPPENED in the history of the NFL.” (McAfee was referring to second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson subbing himself out of a game in October.)
Though Steichen was acclaimed for his work as the offensive coordinator on an Eagles team that nearly went to the Super Bowl two years ago, his time as a head coach has been less impressive. His Colts teams are 16-17 with one game remaining this year, and his handling of Richardson has been questionable at best.
At his Monday press conference, Steichen had a somewhat flat response to McAfee’s claim players are chronically late.
“I think with any team, right, not everyone’s gonna be on time every time, but there is accountability and guys are held to a standard and that is talked about in house,” Steichen said. “…I think Pat, you know, he’s a former alumni who wants to see the Colts do well, just like all our fans want us to do well, and when the standard is not getting in the playoffs, it’s frustrating.”
McAfee’s claims went a bit further than timeliness, saying the Colts had “a loser attitude radiating” and that “I’ve never seen a group waste opportunities/talent/money more than this group.” Without mentioning Steichen or Ballard by name, he implied he’d be happy to see both leave.
“The players/coaches in that building deserve whatever happens to them,” he wrote. “Your unwarranted arrogance, laziness, and lack of professionalism has [led] you to ANOTHER early vacation… which is probably what most of you entitled bums have been hoping for.”
Under Steichen, the Colts have had late-season opportunities to sneak into the playoffs but stumbled twice. Last year, the Colts lost a win-and-in Week 18 game against the Texans; on Sunday, all they had to do to keep their playoff hopes alive was beat a Giants team that hadn’t won at home all season. Instead, they surrendered 45 points to an offense led by Drew Lock, who produced a nearly statistically perfect game.
McAfee’s show has long been used for influence-peddling. McAfee himself successfully waged a campaign for ESPN to hire Shams Charania as its lead NBA reporter, and Aaron Rodgers has been airing his grievances every Tuesday for years. It remains to be seen if this latest push will be the final nail in Steichen’s coffin.
