INDIANAPOLIS — His office has been stripped of much memorabilia, the guitar once owned by Jerry Garcia and the original manuscript scroll of Jack Kerouac’s classic “On the Road” sent to a local museum in anticipation of the tourists and parties to come. So Jim Irsay has his televisions and his Twitter feed, and pictures of the Rolling Stones and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. keeping him company until his team re-emerges.

The Super Bowl alights here this week, an event Irsay has dreamed of hosting since he took control of the Colts in 1997 after his father died. That is good because he could use some companionship right now.

The people Irsay had relied on for years — the team president, Bill Polian, and coach, Jim Caldwell — were sent packing in an upheaval of the franchise that dwarfs anything Irsay has orchestrated as an N.F.L. owner. Quarterback Peyton Manning, injured and unsure of his future, is upset with the team, and Irsay is irritated with Manning for speaking out.

At the moment the spotlight is falling on Indianapolis, the harsh glare of failure has rested on the Colts, putting Irsay at the awkward intersection of giddy anticipation and grim reality. With his assistant hoping to spend a few minutes reviewing party plans with him — the invitations to the owners’ party were sent on scrolls, in a nod to Kerouac — and other owners asking for extra game tickets, Irsay first had to take a call last week in which Chuck Pagano accepted the job as the Colts’ coach.