Team owner Jim Irsay fired team vice chairman Bill Polian and his son, Chris, the Colts’ general manager on Monday. He said there was a good chance coach Jim Caldwell will be back next season, but his evaluation was not over.

He also must still decide whether a healthy Peyton Manning and a new quarterback can co-exist in the same locker room, and which veteran free agents come back next year, if any.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a year in the NFL where a team went 2-14 and there’s not been changes,” defensive captain Gary Brackett said Monday, less than 24 hours after a season-ending loss at Jacksonville.

Outsiders had expected the first order of business to be the firing of Caldwell, who won 14 straight games and advanced to the Super Bowl in his first season as Colts coach. Caldwell said he simply went about his business Monday, speaking with Irsay following the 19-13 loss at Jacksonville and with both Polians on Monday, part of his usual routine.

“You lose as many games as we lost in a year, there’s a problem, there’s an issue,” Caldwell said. “But when we were 14-2, the way you guys put it, my job was in limbo then, right?”

The elder Polian had constructed Super Bowl teams in Buffalo and Indy, and an NFC title contender at Carolina.

But troubling signs emerged this season as the Colts lost time and time again — 13 straight at one point — with Manning sidelined to recover from Sept. 8 neck surgery. And it was Manning who suggested he and Bill Polian were not on the same page.

Polian said on one of his weekly radio shows that he and the four-time league MVP had discussed the possibility of establishing a transition plan at quarterback and that Manning was OK with it. Manning later said the two had never discussed the 2012 draft plans, which include the No. 1 pick amid speculation that the Colts will take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck to groom as Manning’s successor.

Then, just before Christmas, Polian told local reporters that Manning would fail his exit physical, a move that would actually help the Colts because it would allow him to continue working out at the team complex during the offseason.

“That was kind of news to me,” Manning told reporters Sunday, then said he probably could pass the physical.

Fans have been clamoring for the ouster of Caldwell and both Polians. Irsay, a frequent poster on Twitter, has been listening.

“I want 2 thank all ColtsFans..here,throughout the country n abroad,4ur tremendous,loyal support all year long. Ur feedback is heard n noted,” he tweeted Monday morning.

For their part, players offered support for Caldwell, who just wrapped his third year as head coach in Indy.

“One thing about Jim is that he’s a stand-up guy, and guys respect that,” cornerback Jerraud Powers said. “He’s a great coach, a good guy, and it was unfortunate situation this year. But he never lost the locker room.”

The longer and, perhaps, more critical debate is how to rebuild this team and what to do at quarterback.

Manning never played after undergoing his third neck surgery in 19 months, a fusion of two vertebrae.

He did, however, start throwing to teammates in mid-December and received good reviews from both Bill Polian, who was watching, and running back Joseph Addai, who was catching balls. Doctors familiar with the procedure who did not treat Manning say he should return to a high level of play now that the fusion has healed.

If he is healthy, Irsay has promised to bring back Manning regardless of the $28 million bonus he is owed in March.

But after posting the NFL’s worst record without Manning, the Colts also have won the Luck sweepstakes, potentially putting two franchise quarterbacks on the same roster.

“I think I can co-exist with any player I’ve ever played with,” Manning said Sunday. “I think I’ve always been a good teammate in that way.”

If Manning returns, Irsay might be more likely to bring back former Pro Bowlers Robert Mathis, Jeff Saturday and Reggie Wayne, all of whom are now in their 30s, and keep other key high-priced cogs in the Colts’ success such as Brackett and safety Melvin Bullitt.

“I think when you’re playing, you’re so entrenched with the people you go to work with every day,” Saturday said. “It’s different for us to go out and think like an owner. But whatever decisions, we’ve got to take it as a community and move on.”

He’d clearly had enough of the Polians, though.

Bill Polian drew the wrath of fans in 2009 when he pulled the starters in the third quarter against the New York Jets, costing the Colts a chance at a perfect season after going 14-0. At the time, Polian told listeners that the team’s goal was to win the Super Bowl, not go undefeated. Indy wound up losing the Super Bowl, too.

When Manning went down this season, Polian came under fire for not having a capable backup in place, signing Kerry Collins out of retirement and fueling speculation that the team was interested in Brett Favre. He told radio listeners that he accepted the blame.

For the first time that I can remember since Peyton Manning(notes) arrived in town more than 13 years ago, the Indianapolis Colts may have a quarterback controversy brewing. And this one is not your garden variety flap either, pitting Curtis Painter(notes) against Dan Orlovsky(notes) for the right to be slaughtered by the next team on the schedule. No, the team is facing life-and-death issues, at least in the context of an NFL franchise, and can’t afford to make the wrong decisions. As bad as this season has been, I’m starting to get very nervous about what comes next for owner Jim Irsay and his charges.

The fact that Manning has remained on the active roster all season despite being unavailable to participate tells me that the Colts expect him to play or at least practice at some point before the clock winds down on 2011 OR that they’re trying to mask the severity of his situation in order to appease fans and maybe convince potential trading partners that Manning will be healthy enough to return to form in 2012. Make no mistake: Manning trade rumors are actually starting to pop up around town, and it’s an option that the Colts will have to at least consider.

Particularly if the Colts finish at the bottom of the league standings this year, then they will really need to have a firm grasp on Manning’s health heading into next season. With the number one pick, Indianapolis would face the daunting task of deciding whether or not to trade that chip for a slew of other picks (or current NFL players) to build around Manning for a couple of final seasons. The other option, of course, would be to pick up the perceived next-generation franchise quarterback and then figure out when the youngster would replace Number 18. If the Colts choose the latter route, then they also have to at least consider trading the future Hall of Famer to maximize their overall return.

If all of this sounds a little bit like the Brett Favre(notes) fiasco in Green Bay a few years ago, it’s because there are some decent parallels. Unlike Favre, though, who never left the lineup, Manning is currently completely useless to the Colts, and the uncertainty about his health only makes the situation stickier.

One thing is for certain: I don’t envy Bill Polian and Jim Irsay for the decisions they have to make between now and next summer.

Adam Hughes was raised, and still lives, in rural Indiana. He has been a Colts fans since the team arrived in Indianapolis on a snowy morning in 1984. The Blue and White eventually replaced the Chicago Bears as his #1 team, and Super Bowl XLI was a dream come true.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Much analysis has gone into the Indianapolis Colts’ uncontrolled tailspin into futility this season, but it has suddenly become clear to me who the real problem is: Peyton Manning(notes).

My white-hot wrath over the humiliating Oct. 23 obliteration of the Colts by the New Orleans Saints has finally come down to a rolling boil, my hypertension-induced blurred vision is almost completely restored to normal, and I’ve nearly regained by ability to form sentences without spit flying from my mouth as I’m shrieking “Those (expletive, expletive, expletive, expletive) Colts!” at the top of my lungs.

The entire 2011 season thus far has been such a complete disaster that I was starting to think that the powers that be within the Colts organization are totally incompetent. After all, no other NFL team has, in my lifetime anyway, fallen from grace with such terminal velocity.

But then as I was watching some classic Looney Tunes cartoons with my kids, it slowly dawned on me. Bill and Chris Polian are geniuses. Nay, super geniuses. Wile E. Coyote geniuses. They have the Colts exactly where they need to be to dominate the NFL for years.

It’s Better to be Luck-y Than Good

Since absolutely no professional person from within an NFL organization can possibly put together such a long string of completely ridiculous decisions and still remain employed within said NFL organization, the Colts must be trying to tank the season.

Why would they do that? Simple: a Luck-y horseshoe (HA! Get it? Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck … horseshoe on the Colts’ helmets …).

As I perused the Internet today, getting an idea of what other people think of this team and desperately seeking tidbits of hope from the Colts organization, I was struck by how many folks—including those associated with the Colts—seem perfectly content with just planning for Luck’s spring arrival at the Circle City.

Even one of our own—our former beloved head coach, Tony Dungy—already has the Colts drafting Luck and immediately trading Peyton Manning away. The whole tone of his argument is that Manning is a burden that we’re going to have to put up with for a few more years until he goes away, and we can put Wonder Boy Luck in there.

Dungy has a point, you know.

Really, what has Manning ever done for the Colts? Sure, he took them to the Super Bowl a couple times, but he’s been playing since 1998. Only two Super Bowls, Peyton? Really? That’s the best you could do? Heck, he even lost one of them. I think he might have achieved one or two other things during his career, but I can’t really remember any of them off the top of my head right now.

Tom Brady(notes) of the New England Patriots, on the other hand, came into the league two years after Manning, and Brady has already been to four Super Bowls and won three of them. Now there’s a real quarterback.

It’s not like Manning has ever done anything for the Indianapolis community, either. Well, except for that whole Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital thing. But I already know from watching Saturday Night Live what Manning really thinks of kids. He can’t fool me.

No, the Colts don’t need 14 years of being good. They need Luck. As the saying goes, it’s better to be Luck-y than good.

Luck is a Lock

I read a lot—and I mean a lot—about football, and everything I’ve read indicates that Andrew Luck is the second coming of Jesus Christ. (No, he doesn’t look like Jesus Christ. You’re thinking of the Seattle Seahawks’ Charlie Whitehurst(notes).) Luck has turned water into wine, parted the Red Sea, built an ark, all that stuff.

Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that having Manning there for a few years to take Luck under his wing—kind of like Brett Favre(notes) and Aaron Rodgers(notes), or Joe Montana and Steve Young—would make for a much smoother transition than just throwing Luck to the wolves. I got sucked into that way of thinking, too.

The first problem with that plan is that Manning is dumb as a brick. You know that, I know that. I mean, during every game he has ever played in, that’s what all the TV analysts ever say: “That Peyton Manning. He’s dumb as a brick. Probably the dumbest quarterback to ever play the game. How he finds his way to Lucas Oil Stadium every Sunday is a complete mystery.”

Don’t believe me? Look at how he plays! On almost every play, he forgets to call a huddle! Come ON! How long has he played this game?! After every play, Peyton, there’s a huddle!

Then, because he forgot to tell everyone what play they’re running, he has to spend 35 seconds at the line of scrimmage, yelling and pointing at people, hiking his leg up and down like a moron, and shouting some sort of gibberish involving random combinations of animals, colors, and kitchen utensils before Jeff Saturday(notes) finally just gets sick of it and snaps the ball.

Need another example? Fine. Look at what he has done with the uber-talented Curtis Painter(notes) this season while supposedly “helping” him. With the proper coaching, Painter could easily throw for 125, 150 yards a game. But with dumb ol’ Manning coaching him, he throws for 67 yards against the Saints.

Luck, on the other hand, recently threw for 370 yards and 3 touchdowns against Colorado. Man, with Luck under center next year, do you realize how badly the Colts will blow Colorado out?

Luck is a lock! Nothing could possibly prevent him from succeeding in the NFL. Every highly-drafted quarterback—like Cam Newton(notes), Matt Ryan(notes), and Matthew Stafford(notes)—succeeds at the professional level and takes his team to dizzying new heights. (Well, if you don’t count Art Schlichter, JaMarcus Russell(notes), Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith, Cade McNown, Tim Couch, David Carr(notes), Joey Harrington(notes), Brady Quinn(notes), and Jim Druckenmiller. Those were just flukes.)

If you don’t believe me, look at what a success John Elway was for the Colts organization when they drafted him with the first overall pick in 1983.

So who needs dumb ol’ Peyton Manning? He’s old and has a crick in his neck, he hates kids, and he’s a lousy coach. He’s useless to the Colts now.

We can’t miss with Andrew Luck.

The author is a resident of central Indiana and a long-time Colts fan. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIvie or on Facebook.

Also by this author:

Indianapolis Colts humiliate themselves on Sunday Night Football

Same result, different week for Indianapolis Colts

Colts move into the driver’s seat for Andrew Luck

Without Manning, chaos reigns in Indianapolis

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

INDIANAPOLIS – Peyton Manning is getting closer to being his old self.

He’s cracking jokes, having fun at the expense of reporters and he even got the OK from his doctors to be on the sideline Sunday to watch the Colts host the Chiefs. He shrugged off talk about a losing season or whether Indianapolis will be in the running to draft Andrew Luck.

Too early for that, he says.

And too early to know whether he has any shot at playing for Indy again this season.

Still, Manning was full of smiles Thursday as he said his recovery from his latest neck surgery is going well. He is clearly eager to be back down among his teammates on game day instead of up in the press box.

“I had two hot dogs up there in Tampa and Indianapolis,” Manning cracked, referring to the past two weeks. “But the press box gave me a bad vibe.”

Perhaps that’s because Manning had grown weary of the Colts’ four-game losing streak to open the season and the second-guessing that has come with it. Many have wondered how healthy Manning will be when he returns or whether he’ll ever resemble the four-time league MVP again.

There are indications he just might.

Manning has taken on a larger role with his team since the surgery Sept. 8, the third time in 19 months he went under the knife for a neck injury. He has been involved in team meetings, strolling briskly around the practice fields and even advising coaches and players, including the two guys trying to replace him as best they can.

Until this week, doctors had barred him from going anywhere near the sideline during games.

Manning said the decision to ease that restriction demonstrates the recovery is going well, well enough to keep him optimistic that he could even make it back, at least to practice, later this season.

“I think you have to have hope until the doctors rule you out,” he said. “We’re having a lot of injuries so if they (the Colts) come to me and say they have to make a move, I won’t fight them on that.

“The good Lord is calling my plays and I’m not allowed to audible at this point, so I have to listen to the doctors,” he added.

Bill Polian, the vice-chairman, and Chris Polian, the general manager, want to keep Manning on the active roster as long as possible so he can at least return to practice this season. Team owner Jim Irsay believes Manning could be back to practice in December.

The Colts have desperately missed their leader. The offence has struggled to score touchdowns or dictate the tempo, and it’s left the Colts in an 0-4 hole for the first time since 1998. They need a win Sunday against Kansas City (1-3) to avoid their first 0-5 start since 1997.

“You know I’m the only guy to be 0-4 on this team, and what a thrilling win that one over the Chargers was, right?” Manning recalled, referring to his first NFL victory. “Was that the fifth game? Yeah I thought so, so I’ll be like all true Colts’ fans, hoping for a win Sunday.”

Manning said the current plan is to take X-rays every four weeks so doctors can monitor how he is healing. He confirmed that he was doing more in terms of activities this week, though he declined to get into specifics.

“He’s getting better,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “He’s working hard on his rehab and is doing everything the doctors are asking him to do.”

Still, Indy’s sour start has prompted talk about the Colts possibly joining the sweepstakes to draft Luck, the Stanford quarterback, next year. If that happened, Luck, who has attended and helped at Manning’s annual summer quarterback camp, would become the eventual successor to the Colts’ career passing leader.

Manning downplayed such talk, saying it’s too early to talk about how the Colts will ultimately fare this season.

In the meantime, Kerry Collins, Manning’s original replacement, is still trying to recover from a concussion he sustained when he was hit by Steelers’ linebacker James Farrior.

“When I look back over my (NFL) career, I can probably remember having a half-dozen or more small ones,” Collins said. “I’ve never had a lot of big ones and this one has hung around longer than any of them.”

Collins did individual work at Wednesday’s practice and was expected to do the same Thursday but still has not been cleared to play. Curtis Painter, who threw two TD passes against Tampa Bay on Monday night, is preparing to make his second straight start this weekend.

Manning is still trying to get used to being out after making 227 consecutive starts, including post-season games — the second-longest streak by an NFL quarterback behind only Brett Favre.

He’s just excited to be getting close to the action again this weekend.

“It’s a new experience for me,” Manning said. “People ask, how are you handling it? I’m learning.”

Notes: Colts safety Melvin Bullitt was scheduled to have surgery Friday on his right shoulder. Bullitt has already been placed on injured reserve, ending his season. … Defensive tackle Eric Foster, who dislocated his right ankle in a gruesome scene during Monday night’s loss at Tampa, was scheduled to return to Indianapolis on Thursday afternoon, two days after undergoing season-ending surgery in Tampa.

Updated Sep 23, 2011 7:17 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS

Injured Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will attempt to assist his team from the coaches booth Sunday night.

Manning, still recovering from offseason neck surgeries, will work alongside quarterbacks coach Ron Turner high above the field at Lucas Oil Stadium as the Colts look for their first win of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Indianapolis Star reported.

“My first obligation to the team is to get myself healthy,” Manning told The Star. “But I do believe that [since] I’m not on the active roster, I have an obligation to help the team in some capacity.

“This is new to me,” he added. “But I want to be a resource. I want to help.”

Manning, who had three surgeries in 19 months on his bothersome neck, has been making appearances at Colts’ practice this week, mostly walking laps around the team’s indoor training facility.

The four-time NFL MVP is out indefinitely as he recovers from his latest procedure, conducted Sept. 8.

The nagging injury forced Manning to miss his first game in 14 seasons. He previously made 208 regular-season starts — second only to Brett Favre’s NFL-record streak of 297 games — after being drafted by the Colts with the first overall pick in 1998.

Indianapolis will hope to get the 11-time Pro Bowler back in the starting lineup as soon as possible before its season slides out of control.

Manning, 35, signed a five-year, $90 million contract in July. The deal contained an average annual salary of $18 million, tying him with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as the NFL’s highest paid player.