Now, make no mistake:

This is a significant step forward in this story. Polian previously had confirmed Mudd was considering retirement through a statement released by the team, but this is the the first on-the-record confirmation that Moore is seriously considering retirement.

It's also the first time Polian has said he expects them both to be gone.

“Right now, they haven’t made a final determination,” Polian told USA TODAY Tuesday. “I anticipate that they will retire.”

Bell also reported that while assistant head coach Clyde Christensen and assistant offensive line coach Pete Metzelaars are “positioned for added responsibility," Polian said nothing yet has been determined.

“You just move on,” Polian told Bell. “Change is a fact of life in our business.”

This is exactly what you expected Polian to say, exactly what he must say, and there's a lot of truth and history behind the statement. The Colts in the last decade have been built on several foundations, the most notable of which has been quarterback Peyton Manning but an underrated one of which has been a sound organization that has succeeded despite injuries and significant personnel departures.

The Colts like to say, "Next Man Up," when a player is injured during the season. And that approach has helped them win in a league built to prevent consistency. The Colts won 13 games in 1999 and 12 in 2008. During that span, they won six division titles, 12 or more games seven times and most significantly, a Super Bowl following the 2006 season. They won that Super Bowl after an offseason in which they lost four-time Pro Bowl running back Edgerrin James, key linebacker David Thornton and Pro Bowl kicker Mike Vanderjagt, and they continued to win the past two seasons despite missing eight-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Marvin Harrison much of the 2007 season and despite the fact that Harrison struggled statistically much of last season.

How much change has the franchise undergone in a decade? In the late 1990s, the franchise was defined by the Triplets: Manning, James and Harrison. In recent seasons, while Manning is still the cornerstone, the rest of the success is built around wide receiver Reggie Wayne, tight end Dallas Clark, defensive ends Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney, safety Bob Sanders and a slew of players who weren't around when the Colts won their first division title of this run, 1999.

But never have they faced on offseason quite like this.

Forget the late February release of Harrison. He hadn't been a franchise-level guy since 2006. But even forgetting that, the changes are major. Head Coach Tony Dungy retired in January, replaced by longtime assistant Jim Caldwell, who then replaced defensive coordinator Ron Meeks and special teams coordinator Russ Purnell with Larry Coyer and Ray Rychleski, respectively.

And now, Polian's anticipating the retirements of Moore and Mudd.

I won't get into hard breakdowns of every change, and I still believe the Colts will be successful this season. It's a player's league, and the Colts still have as many big-time players as any team int he NFL. I'm also on record saying Caldwell will be a quality successor to Dungy, and the reality is the defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator moves needed to be made.

But few would say the same about Moore and Mudd. When I think of the core people around whom the Colts' success has been built, some of the first names that come to mind are Polian, Dungy, Manning, Moore and Mudd. There are others, but it's a short list and there are those that would have those as their five.

Now, if Mudd and Moore are gone, you're suddenly down to two.

Now, don't get me wrong. It's a really good two, but it still makes the coming season a fascinating one, with far more questions than the team has faced perhaps since Dungy took over in 2002. But that season, there was still Manning, Polian, Mudd and Moore. Now, it appears as though Manning may enter a season without Moore as his coordinator, something I don't know that he completely believed would ever happen.

Can the Colts overcome this? Sure, they can.

It's just that now, "Next Man Up" is getting said a lot earlier and about different people than it ever did before.

 

OTHER EXAMINER COLTS TOPICS . . .

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnOehser
www.indyfootballreport.com . . . John's Colts website