NFL fans stunned over Shane Steichen's response to Pat McAfee's outburst: "Definitely not beating the allegations" 

In Week 17, the Indianapolis Colts suffered an embarrassing 45-33 loss to the New York Giants and were officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Cincinnati Bengals beating the Denver Broncos gave the Colts' hopes of a postseason berth a new lease on life. However, their loss to the 2-13 Giants ended their chances of being one of the seven AFC teams in the playoffs.

Former Colts star Pat McAfee posted an explicit rant on X (formerly Twitter) and claimed the team was doomed from the start due to their indiscipline. Coach Shane Steichen was asked about the accusations and he seemingly confirmed that everything the retired punter said was true.

He said:

“I think with any team, not everyone is going to be on time every time, but there is accountability, and guys are held to a standard, and that is talked about in-house. I think Pat, he's a former player that wants to see the Colts do well. just like all our fans want."

Steichen admitted that the Colts' standards aren't up to par. He added:

"Not getting into playoffs, it's frustrating. So, it's frustrating for a lot of people, myself included, and that's why we talk about the standard just being raised so we're not in these situations.”

Colts fans on X were understandably perplexed and slammed the head coach for his admission:

"This response is definitely not beating the allegations," one fan said.

"Is Matt Eberflus advising him? This is a brutal look tbh," another fan added.

"Not everyone’s gonna be on time? This is a terrible look lmao," one fan said.

Some fans claimed that Steichen's response to the question was so poorly construed that the Colts should consider firing him if they weren't already doing it:

"I’m sure Shane is a great guy but he should not be a head coach," one fan wrote.

"Fire him now. Accepting tardiness is a death knell to an organization. Good luck coach, gonna need it," another fan added.

"The boss just said it’s okay if everyone is not on time all the time? Yeah, he has to go too. This is embarrassing," one fan opined.

Pat McAfee on Anthony Richardson: Retired star claims QB 'tapping out' indicator of Colts culture

In his tirade on X, Pat McAfee called out sophomore star Anthony Richardson for taking himself out of the game for a play because he was out of breath and too tired after scrambling around on the previous down during the Colts' 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans in Week 8.

The retired punter explained on Monday's episode of the Pat McAfee Show why he was so incensed about it. He said:

"[Anthony Richardson] says, 'I was tired. That's all.' And it's like... You don't need to say that. The fact that you think you can say that leads me to believe you literally have no awareness of any repercussions of anything. There's no accountability anywhere."

McAfee added that Richardson, who's touted to be the face of the franchise, having no qualms about admitting that he took a play off because he was tired, is indicative of the culture within the organization and is the reason why the team is 7-9.