The moment after the confetti falls, the cameras click off, and the weight of the headset truly settles? That’s when the NFL’s brightest stages reveal their loneliest corners. For former Indianapolis Colts’ coach, that moment wasn’t under the glare of a playoff spotlight, but in the unnerving quiet of an empty office, just two days after landing his dream job as head coach of the franchise in 2012. Chuck Pagano , who served Jim Irsay’s Colts as HC for six seasons, wasn’t basking. He was desperately rummaging through his predecessor Jim Caldwell ’s desk. What was he hoping to find? Not play sheets, not personnel files. Pagano was hunting for the mythical Head Coach Manual.

“I looked at Tina (his wife) and was like, ‘What the freak did we just do to ourselves?'” Chuck Pagano rece

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