So more and more now it sounds as if Jim Caldwell will survive the dumpster fire that was the Colts' 2011 season.

Everyone covering the team seems to sense that Jim Irsay will push new GM Ryan Grigson into retaining Caldwell, and the Colts will simply ride out the expected firestorm from the fans.

And how does the Blob feel about this?

Well, initial shock shading toward more of a "Yeah, OK, should have seen this coming" ambiance would probably be an accurate read. This is, after all, still Peyton Manning's team. And he and Caldwell have by all accounts a pretty solid relationship. So if Peyton's healthy enough to play next year, he's likely to want his guy still around, and not have to break in someone new.

Here's the deal with Caldwell, see: So much of what's backfired for the Colts under his regime, he's been able to deflect, because the perception was that the Colts were Bill Polian's franchise, particularly after Tony Dungy departed.

And so the 2-14 season had more to do with the culture created by the front office -- all-Peyton Manning, all-the-time only works if Peyton's, you know, available -- than with Caldwell, or so goes the narrative. Ditto the decision two years ago to bag the undefeated season, a call that rightly or wrongly was perceived to be Polian's. Ditto, even, the loss in the Super Bowl that year, whose culpability fell more in Peyton's lap than Caldwell's, since it was Peyton who gifted Tracy Porter with the pick six that essentially sealed it for the Saints.

Caldwell gets the heat for his deer-in-the-headlights game management and for sticking with Curtis Painter this year when it was evident to everyone but him that Painter wasn't getting any better. And he frankly should get more fallout than he does, because the idea that he was nothing more than a water carrier for first Dungy and later Polian isn't entirely an accurate one.

Based on what I hear from people who are at the Colts' complex daily, Caldwell's a lot more involved in the day-to-day operations of the franchise than is perceived. So in that sense, he should get more of the blame for the fall from grace than he does.

But perception is 9/10ths of reality, or something like that. And so it's likely Caldwell will survive.

Like it or not.