Stephen Holder | IndyStar

Stephen Holder/IndyStar

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The question was inevitable.

As the New England Patriots fidgeted during their hour-long media session Monday night ahead of Super Bowl LII, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was confronted with the inquiry he knew full well was coming:

“What’s next for you after this season?” a reporter deadpanned.

McDaniels smiled slyly, the assembled media began to snicker and, moments later, all parties were in the midst of full-throttled guffaws.

“You know, I don’t know,” McDaniels responded, sarcastically, through his grins.

Nope. McDaniels wasn’t going there. Certainly you’re not surprised. But if you listened closely Monday evening, it was not difficult to tell he will, indeed, be the next coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

He never said it, confirmed it or acknowledged it. But for more than 30 minutes, a relaxed and surprisingly honest McDaniels talked about his past, his present and his future, revealing important details along the way.

“I’ve learned a lot in my career, whether it’s here, my time in Denver or in St. Louis,” McDaniels said. “Every step of the way has been invaluable to me. There’s so many good people and so many good coaches and personnel people that are willing to share what they know and I’ve tried to pick up things here and there from everyone I’ve worked for.

“Sometimes I think failure is the best teacher.”

Yes, McDaniels has failed before. He did so as the head coach in Denver, for one, which fired him before he reached the end of his second season in 2010. His one season in St. Louis, as the offensive coordinator in 2011, wasn’t exactly sensational, either.

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But you couldn’t listen to McDaniels recount his experiences and not be struck by the humility. No, he doesn’t know it all. No, he didn’t invent coaching. And, no, he’s certainly no Bill Belichick.

Perhaps those sentiments will serve him well as he looks to tackle his second go-round as an NFL coach.

“I’m nowhere near a finished a finished product as a coach myself,” McDaniels said. “I love the game of football. And I’m hungry to try and get better and serve the guys that I work for and serve the people who I work with. Hopefully that will serve me well as I move forward.”

It appears, after his second stint in New England – now in its sixth season – McDaniels is ready to make that move. It will be to Indianapolis, where he and the Colts are expected to consummate a deal to make him Chuck Pagano’s successor after the completion of the Super Bowl. The Colts and McDaniels can’t execute a deal until he’s fulfilled his duties with the Patriots.

But it’s coming, and McDaniels seemingly has been thinking about this moment for quite a while. He’s been entertaining the idea of pursuing another head-coaching gig for some time, but this year he finally felt the time was right. For McDaniels, it was a matter of when, not if.

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Josh McDaniels

“That’s been a dream of mine forever,” he said. “My dad’s been a football coach all my life. I grew up around the game. I played as long as I could but I wasn’t very big or very fast or very good. So, I knew I was going to end up being a coach somewhere, somehow. I just wanted to try to get better and whatever the cards held for me, that’s great. I’d be OK with that.

“My job is to do the best I can with the job that I have and then make the right decision for my family. I’ve got a beautiful wife and four great kids. And I just want to make sure that they’re blessed with whatever decision we happen to make. If that means that I get an opportunity to do that, then I’d be really happy to do that at some point.”

How about next week? Still, no dice.

“Right now, this week is special for one reason and that’s because we’re here with an opportunity to compete against the Eagles for the Super Bowl championship,” McDaniels said, staying on message.

But when the opportunity to be a head coach comes – cough, next week, cough – McDaniels clearly plans to do things differently after the apparent personality conflicts he left in his wake in Denver.

“You have people you learn from every day and you have people that you’re responsible to teach,” he said. “And the only way for those two things to work the right way is to have quality relationships. They go both directions. You have to be a good listener and a good teacher. You have to be willing to take advice from somebody else and you have to be willing to give it when it’s your turn.”

For McDaniels, his turn is just about here – whether he’s willing to confirm it or not.

Follow Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.