AP

As the Colts enter a season of high expectations originating from their owner, the team’s head coach could indeed be entering the last year of his run in Indy.

Both Jay Glazer of FOX and Jason La Canfora of CBS addressed Chuck Pagano’s future with the team as he enters a contract year, and La Canfora made a surprisingly strong statement: “Those closest to Pagano believe it’s inevitable he’ll be coaching elsewhere in 2016.”

The team consistently has denied the existence of a rift between Pagano and G.M. Ryan Grigson, but whatever it is and wherever it comes from (possibly, owner Jim Irsay), it’s clear that both sides are feeling the stress of Pagano’s status. He declined a one-year extension, opting instead to bet on himself.

That approach allows the Colts to move on without a buyout obligation, if Irsay decides that he could hire any coach he wants given the presence of quarterback Andrew Luck.

The guys in the locker room are confused by the situation. “How can our coach possibly be coaching for his job this year?” Glazer said the players are asking.

And so Pagano becomes this year’s version of the former coach in San Francisco who once was the quarterback in Indianapolis.