The Tribune

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Jim Caldwell endured everything thrown at him during his first two seasons as the Colts' coach -- replacing a friend, constant criticism, even fighting through a huge rash of injuries. He couldn't survive the loss of Peyton Manning. Caldwell became the Colts' third high-profile dismissal in an offseason purge, getting fired Tuesday after producing the franchise's worst record in two decades. "This is obviously a big transitional time for us, and I know we're excited moving forward and it's hard when you say goodbyes to some people," team owner Jim Irsay said. "But it's part of the business." In Indianapolis, it's been anything but business as usual. The day after they finished 2-14 and locked up the No. 1 overall draft pick, Irsay fired team vice chairman Bill Polian, the architect of the Colts' success, and his son, Chris, the hand-picked general manager. A nine-day search prompted Irsay to hire 39-year-old Ryan Grigson as the replacement last Wednesday. Since then, Irsay and his new GM have been meeting almost non-stop, debating what tack the team needed to take next -- bringing in new assistants to fix the problems or making wholesale changes? Things were so clouded Monday that Caldwell even met with former Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo about possibly becoming the Colts' new defensive coordinator. By Tuesday morning, the conventional wisdom in Indy and around league circles was that Caldwell would return. A few hours later, everything changed as suddenly as the Colts' 2011 fortunes. Irsay said he informed Caldwell of the decision shortly before the team confirmed the move. The search for a new coach is to begin immediately though neither Irsay nor Grigson provided a timeline for the hiring. "We just came to the conclusion that this is best moving forward for the franchise," Grigson said, referring to his first major decision in charge of an NFL team. "Mr Irsay is the steward of this franchise and I'm here to help him wrap his head around these types of decisions. We've been in football our whole lives and a lot of it is about instincts." It's also about results, and Caldwell's were mixed. After winning his first 14 games, an NFL record for a rookie head coach, and becoming only the fifth first-year coach to take his team to the Super Bowl, Caldwell did a masterful job guiding the injury-plagued Colts through a plague of injuries and back to the playoffs in 2010. But those successes all came with Manning, who led the Colts to a league-record 115 regular-season wins in the previous decade and a record-tying nine straight playoff appearances. This season, without the franchise quarterback behind center, the Colts lost their first 13 games before winning twice in five days. Caldwell ends his Colts' tenure 26-22 overall with one AFC title, two division crowns and one bleak season that has left him unemployed just three years after replacing close friend Tony Dungy, the first black coach to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.