“If I get fired because of this, then so be it”

The 2024 NFL season will be the eighth season in which Chris Ballard serves as general manager of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Colts, a longtime NFL stronghold during the first decade of this century, have won just one playoff game and have yet to win an AFC South division title under his leadership. Ballard is aware of the franchise's shortcomings – and addressed them on Wednesday with a rather bold quote about his method.

“I've always had a strong belief in myself and in the people around me. A strong belief in what we do,” Ballard told reporters. [via The Athletic]”…The last three years of not making the playoffs is a disappointment. I'm not going to sit here and say it wasn't, but I still believe strongly in what we're doing, how we're doing it and how we're going to get it done. And I'm not going to doubt that. You either believe in something or you don't believe in anything. It's easy to waver and do what the world wants you to do, but you've got to believe in something or you don't. That's what we believe in.

“If I get fired because of this, then so be it.”

Ballard has had to overcome many obstacles since arriving in Indianapolis in 2017. When he took the position, he had one of the best quarterbacks in all of football, Andrew Luck, who was at the peak of his career. But Luck missed the entire 2017 season, and after returning in 2018 and playing all 16 games, Luck surprisingly resigned the following summer.

“If you look at the first couple of years, we made the playoffs two of the first four years, had to deal with the loss of a quarterback and still found a way,” Ballard said. “I thought our 2020 team was excellent. We only lost one tough game to Buffalo, which ended up being a really good team. And I thought 2021 was a really good football team again, and then it all kind of fell apart.”

The Colts enter the 2024 season hoping to have finally found their franchise quarterback in Anthony Richardson, whom they drafted number 4 last April.

After seven unsuccessful seasons, Ballard's job depends on Richardson's success – and the general manager knows it.