Thursday Night Football features two head coaches standing on shaky soil. Will the results of the final TNF game of the season between the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts cause the ground to crumble beneath Vance Joseph or Chuck Pagano?
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported that the expectation is Joseph returns to Denver for 2018, according to several sources informed of the Broncos' thinking.
Rapoport added that the vote of confidence for Joseph comes with a caveat: The team brass will be monitoring how the club competes to close the season.
Sunday's shutout win over the New York Jets to avoid a ninth-straight loss appears to have given Joseph and his staff some reprieve after a rocky middle of the season.
"At this point, the Broncos brass, especially John Elway and Joe Ellis, do want to make it work with Vance Joseph," Rapoport said. "They know -- Elway and Ellis -- the quarterback situation here. They are very well aware of how little chance that the offense has. That being said, Vance Joseph knows there are things he needs to improve on for next year. He has vowed to do that ... and I know that is one message he's delivered to those in charge in Denver."
While it sounds like barring a meltdown, Joseph will get a second year in Denver, things aren't so rosy in Indianapolis.
Chuck Pagano admitted this week that everyone is on a one-day contract. In his sixth year in Indy, the coach knew coming into the season he could be out if things went sour, per Rapoport.
At 3-10 entering Thursday night, Pagano is staring at his third-straight season out of the playoffs. Without Andrew Luck to keep the Colts above water, the ship has slowly sunk in Indy.
Colts owner Jim Irsay told Rapoport at the owners' meeting on Wednesday that he plans to sit down with general manager Chris Ballard after the season to make a decision on the coaching staff.
"Right now, I don't have anything new one way or the other to report on," Irsay told Rapoport.
