Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

While they packed a season’s worth of belongings into black trash bags, reflected on all that went wrong during the past four months and said goodbye to one another like students bidding farewell on the last day of school, they wondered. They wondered whether their coach was coming back.

Monday might’ve marked the end of an era at the Indianapolis Colts’ West 56th Street facility. Then again, it might not have. The players left the building for the final time this season unsure whether Chuck Pagano would be their coach in 2016.

What once appeared to be a fate accompli now hints at the possibility Pagano might not be done with the Colts, not yet at least. Pagano, with no contract for the 2016 season, met with team owner Jim Irsay throughout the afternoon to discuss his future with the team. It’s assumed he campaigned vigorously to keep his job — “I will fight my ass off to be the coach here,” he promised last week — and with no decision coming Monday, it appears Irsay is at least weighing the possibility of retaining Pagano for a fifth year.

Pagano met with the team at noon Monday to close out the season. He thanked his players and told them, "I'd go to bat for any of you." The players left the meeting like Pagano — unsure of his fate.

Amid all the uncertainty, one thing remains unchanged: how those players feel. They desperately want Pagano back.

Pagano, Irsay meeting goes into overtime

And that includes franchise quarterback Andrew Luck.

“I can say he’s given his heart and soul every day since I’ve been here,” Luck said. “I feel like I’ve grown so much as a player and a person. Through this season, which has been trying and disappointing, he’s always been sort of a bastion of good coaching ... (he’s) been so positive and kept everybody going, as evidenced by how hard guys played yesterday.”

Asked whether his coach deserved a fifth season, Luck was less convincing.

“That’s not for me to say,” he said. “He’s done a great job. If it’s here, if it’s somewhere else, he’s going to be fine.”

On Sunday, the Colts beat the Titans 30-24 to finish the year 8-8, Pagano’s first season in Indianapolis without double-digit wins. He’s currently 44-26, including the playoffs, in four seasons here, having led the team to a pair of AFC South titles and last season’s AFC Championship Game.

But the Colts missed the playoffs this year for the first time since 2011 and just the third time since 1999. Each of the two previous instances — 2001 and 2011 — resulted in the head coach being fired.

From the moment Sunday’s game concluded, Pagano’s players began the campaign. They want Chuck back. Period.

“Me personally, I don’t see any reason for change,” said linebacker D’Qwell Jackson. “I think Chuck is the guy for this team to lead us to a Super Bowl. You look around the league, all the head coaches that have been around for years, there have been off years. If an off year is 8-8, I know some teams would give their right arm to go 8-8. I don’t see a need for change. Yeah it was a down year, but this team is well-equipped with veterans, well-equipped with coaches that I don’t see why we need to change a thing.”

Insider: Pagano sounds like he's bidding Colts farewell

Others sounded on Monday like they knew his fate was sealed.

“For me, personally, it’s hard to watch Chuck,” quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen said Monday. “I thought he did a marvelous job. I thought he gave us everything he had. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anybody do what he just did through all the adversity and all the changes (we faced this season).”

“Every guy in this locker room would love to have coach Pagano here,” said defensive end Kendall Langford. “We have his back, but at the end of the day, we don’t make those decisions.”

Pagano’s pitch to Irsay on Monday likely centered on the argument that he took a team that lost Luck for nine games this season and still mustered eight wins. The storms just kept coming: The Colts started three different quarterbacks this year and played five. The team fired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton midseason. And yet, Pagano’s team missed the playoffs by just one game.

Asked about the change, Luck, entering his fifth NFL season next fall, said: “Of course you’d want to have continuity with everything. But if it’s not working, it’s not working. If change is what this team needs to make us better, then sure, that’s great.”

Change was expected Monday. It didn't come. Chuck Pagano stayed a Colt another day.

Will he survive Tuesday?

His players hope so.

Luck talks contract extension

Also of significance this offseason is the contract of Luck, who enters the coming season without an extension past 2016. This coming season is the fifth and final one of Luck's rookie deal, and he'll earn more than $16 million.

Owner Jim Irsay has repeatedly expressed his desire to get a long-term deal with Luck done.

"That’d be great," Luck said Monday. "I haven’t thought about (a long-term deal) too much. But if there's an opportunity for it, absolutely."

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.