Zak Keefer | IndyStar

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Maybe this is the scenario Josh McDaniels has been waiting for, as those interviews over the years began to stack up and the teams kept calling and McDaniels kept saying "No thanks," content to keep a good thing a good thing and add some more rings to his collection. Maybe it’s because he knows he can’t fail again. Everyone knows head coaches in this league don’t get a third try.

Maybe all this is because of Andrew Luck.

It was always going to take a lot to lure McDaniels away from the comfy confines of New England, where he’s working under this century’s greatest coach and with this century’s greatest quarterback (though plenty in these parts would disagree). McDaniels, offensive coordinator for the Patriots for nine seasons across two stints, has interviewed with at least six teams about head coaching vacancies in the last two years. He’s had offers. He’s been patient. He’s stayed put.

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Until this week, when McDaniels and the Indianapolis Colts all-but-finalized a deal that would make him the team’s next head coach. While not official until the Patriots’ season concludes – stay patient, this could be a few weeks – the Colts’ search for Chuck Pagano’s successor is effectively over.

Central to all of this, as with everything with this franchise, is Luck’s surgically-repaired and slow-to-heal right shoulder. Those inside the building remain extremely optimistic, buoyed by Luck’s return from The Netherlands last month, about his prospects for 2018. He’s noticeably stronger, and expects to be on the field when offseason workouts commence in April. But the building’s been optimistic before. The thinking last August: He’ll be on the field by October at the latest. It never happened. No one can truly know at this point.

But it’s not a stretch to assume McDaniels wouldn’t have come to an agreement with the Colts if Luck’s status remained murky. The expectation is that he’ll play, that he’ll be Andrew Luck again. Ballard can’t guarantee anything – not with this injury – but he can sell the prospect of a generational talent at quarterback who could very well be playing without pain for the first time in four years. The last time Andrew Luck was truly healthy, the 2014 season, he had no offensive line and no running game and still led the NFL with 40 touchdown passes.

That’s something Josh McDaniels couldn’t say no to.

Schematically the hire means the Colts are moving away from a defensive-minded head coach; six seasons under Pagano got them nowhere in that regard. With McDaniels in tow, the Colts are making it clear: The aim is to accentuate their greatest asset – that’d be Luck – in a way this franchise hasn’t since Bruce Arians ran the show for 12 memorable games in 2012. That Luck’s had the success he’s had through three different offensive coordinators in five seasons is a credit to the quarterback, not to mention a damning indictment of the front-office failures of this franchise since he arrived on a silver platter in 2012.

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Quarterbacks, especially young ones, crave stability. The Colts have never offered Luck that. McDaniels’ offensive scheme will be Luck’s fourth in six seasons on the field. The Colts hope it extends throughout the prime of his career.

A dive into what a McDaniels-Luck marriage could look like:

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1) Analyzing McDaniels’ success in New England:

The assumption: The Patriots’ offense is a well-oiled machine, its parts seemingly interchangeable save the quarterback who makes it all go. And maybe that’s true. But that undermines the job McDaniels has done in New England. His scheme is exceptional at maximizing the talents at his disposal, at seizing opponents’ weaknesses and adapting to the issues untimely injuries can cause. There’s no question he and Brady make one another better, sideline scuffles notwithstanding.

“I can understand, obviously, why people would have (him) at the top of their list,” Brady told reporters earlier this month.

Midway through the 2016 season, McDaniels’ offense lost the best tight end in football – Rob Gronkowski – and still averaged 35 points a game in their march to another Super Bowl triumph. The Patriots lost their most valuable receiver – Julian Edelman – in the preseason this year and still finished second in the league in scoring. McDaniels put on a clinic in play-calling last Saturday in the divisional round of the playoffs, embarrassing what was supposed to be a stout Tennessee defense.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick essentially gives McDaniels and Brady free reign to run the offense, even at times turning his back to the field when the unit’s at work to focus on defensive adjustments with coordinator Matt Patricia. Easy to figure why. Since returning to New England as coordinator in 2012, McDaniels’ offense has never finished lower than fourth in the league in points. The Patriots, subsequently, have won the division ever year, advanced to at least the AFC Championship every year and won two Super Bowls in that span.

How much of a role has McDaniels played? Life as an offensive coordinator is pretty good when you’ve got Belichick’s counsel and Brady’s on-field acumen. Until he wins on his own – something McDaniels has never done – that will be the footnote he lugs around on a resume that includes five world championships. As a head coach, McDaniels bombed in Denver, winning his first six games before losing 17 of his final 22 and getting canned before his second season was over. The offense he coordinated in St. Louis in 2011 was second from the bottom.

So he retreated to New England, salvaged his career and waited for the right call, knowing full well his second shot at running a team could be his final shot at running a team. Over the last two weeks, Chris Ballard interviewed at least five candidates for the Colts’ head coaching job. McDaniels was the first one.

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2) What will the Colts’ offense look like under McDaniels?

New England’s scheme thrives on its adaptability, attacking defenses in new ways each week. It’s a staple of the Belichick Way. Study a team, find a weakness, exploit that weakness. Brady is exceptional at getting the ball out quickly – something Luck would be wise to mimic – and is probably the most accurate downfield passer in NFL history. These days, they often bury teams not with the home run but methodically, ruthlessly moving the chains and capitalizing in the red zone. Before you know it, the game’s a rout. Just ask the Titans.

Indispensable in McDaniels’ scheme over the past few seasons is the slot receiver who can master the option route – normal routes that give the wideout the freedom to break off depending on what the defense is doing. Think Edelman, Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan, Wes Welker a few years back. The receivers will catch most of their passes underneath the defense while Brady patiently waits to exploit an opening. Then it’ll come, and they’ll pounce.

The Colts, stunningly thin at wide receiver heading into 2018, don’t have the personnel at this juncture to duplicate New England’s passing attack. Look for that to be something Ballard and McDaniels attack aggressively in the offseason. You can’t lure an offensive head coach to town and then fail to provide him with the talent he needs to run his system. Sure-handed tight end Jack Doyle could thrive in McDaniels’ system, but look for the Colts to add multiple receivers to the fold, especially those who can excel out of the slot, either through free agency or the draft.

If New England’s system is any indication, one sliver McDaniels figures to implement into Luck’s repertoire will be the quick strike. Brady is a master of it. Luck is not. The hurried throws, only a second or two after the snap, keep the quarterback clean and routinely prevent the defense from substituting as frequently as it would like. For the Colts’ sake, and for the sake of Luck’s bruised body, it’d be nice if the franchise quarterback wasn’t tossed to the turf 15 times every game.

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3) Can he make Luck better?

This is everything for McDaniels. It’s how his tenure will be judged. It’ll decide how long he stays.

Ideally, Ballard envisions his new head coach will guide the Colts into Luck’s prime, offering a stable offensive system Luck can master and eventually thrive in. Consider: Peyton Manning worked under Tom Moore’s tutelage for his first twelve seasons – there’s a reason that unit was able to sustain such a ridiculous level of success. Eventually Manning was a pseudo-coordinator. Now Luck – who’ll go 20 months in between starts under center – will dive into his fourth different playbook in six seasons.

It’s time one actually sticks. Imagine what he can do if he doesn’t have to learn a new playbook every 24 months.

If McDaniels can mold his scheme to match’s Luck prodigious talent, and the QB is healthy once again, there’s every reason to believe marriage could flourish in time. The roster around him needs work – the offensive line needs help; beyond T.Y. Hilton, the receiving core desperately needs an upgrade; another capable running back wouldn’t hurt – but everything moving forward hinges on the McDaniels-Luck dynamic.

McDaniels has to feel confident he can make it work. He wouldn’t be coming here otherwise.