Doyel: Will the monster Colts coach Chuck Pagano built eat him?

ANDERSON — Build the monster, Chuck Pagano likes to say, and he did it. Maybe he did it too well. In three seasons as Colts coach, Pagano has built the monster so quickly and so ferociously that the monster just might eat him.

Three years already, three years with superstar quarterback Andrew Luck, and he doesn't have a Super Bowl appearance. Three playoff appearances in three years, 33 wins in the regular season and three in the playoffs. But what have you done for us lately, Chuck Pagano?

Well, 45-7. That's what you've done for us lately.

That's the mentality looming around Pagano, and not just among the harshest, most impatient segment of the Colts' fan base. That's the posture of the front office as well, specifically owner Jim Irsay, a man who adores Pagano the man but whose patience with Pagano the coach looks to be fraying.

Before another word about the monster Pagano has built – and whether it could turn on him – let me be as clear as I can:

Chuck Pagano deserves a contract extension, and he deserves one right now. If I'm Irsay, I'm locking him up. He has earned it with what he already has done, and with the promise of what he still might do.

But I'm not Irsay. And the Colts' owner has made it clear he expects more from the Colts than what he got last season, when what he got was 11 regular-season victories, a division title, a playoff victory at home, a playoff victory against Peyton Manning in Denver, and a spot in the AFC title game. That wasn't enough for Irsay, and if you're a fan of the Colts in particular or competition in general, it's a tremendous attitude to see.

But if you're a fan of Pagano, it's ominous. This offseason Irsay has disgustedly cited the statistics that doomed the Colts against the Patriots – 657 rushing yards allowed in three blowouts – and made overall comments that strongly suggest the issues were on the sideline, not the field.

"There's no question we are looking towards being more physical on defense and stopping the run better," Irsay said after the NFL Draft in May. "I don't think it's an aspect of toughness that we lack, just the toughness to get it done. I think it's a question of looking at it strategically, defensively, how we get mismatched."

How we get mismatched.

That's not subtle.

Nor was something said this offseason by Pagano – who rose to the top of his profession as a defensive specialist – about his rushing defense:

"We either get it fixed," he said, "or it will be somebody else getting it fixed."

Pagano enters the final year of his contract after being unable to come to terms with the Colts on an extension this offseason, and in the NFL the team has all the power in those negotiations. This isn't college football, where winning coaches hop from job to job. Winning coaches don't leave an NFL franchise. Not unless they're pushed out.

Pagano has 33 wins in three seasons but enters the final year of his contract without an extension? That's not the Colts pushing him out the door – but their hands are on his shoulder blades, and the door is not far away.

That's how it looks, and it has made Pagano's contract status the biggest, brightest storyline of a preseason that deserves better. We should be talking about the Super Bowl, not about the future of a coach – and a man – as good as Pagano, but here we are. His contract situation is the sun you can't stop staring at.

If it's me – and we've established, have we not, that Irsay is not me – Pagano could coach this season without an extension and be justifiably pushed out the door only if the Colts utterly flop. I'm not talking about missing the Super Bowl, but going 6-10 or something like that. Falling short of the Super Bowl would be a bust, make no mistake. The Colts are good enough to contend for a spot in Super Bowl 50, and anything less would be a disappointment.

But there's a gulf between "the season was a disappointment" and "we should fire the coach." Especially this coach. The NFL is a bottom-line business, but there are factors to consider here. One, the players love Pagano. They don't like him; they adore him. Two, the community loves him. The region rallied around Pagano when he was diagnosed in 2012 with leukemia, and celebrated with him when he beat it. Pagano has used the power of his platform to help turn Central Indiana into one of the most formidable cancer-fighting regions in the world.

What does that have to do with reaching the Super Bowl? Nothing. Understood. But changing coaches is a complicated issue, not nearly as easy as "the season was a disappointment," therefore "we should fire the coach."

All of this could be a moot point. The Colts could – should, we're all saying – be one of the best teams in the NFL, and as such they could (should, I'm saying) get to the Super Bowl. If it happens, Pagano returns with a long-term contract and you can file this story in one of those steel receptacles under the desk.

But the "what if" – the sun I can't stop staring at – is this: What does Irsay do if the Colts don't reach the Super Bowl? What if they don't reach the AFC title game? What if they don't even win a playoff game?

In four seasons in Denver, John Fox had 46 victories, four playoff appearances and one spot in the Super Bowl. He has the highest winning percentage in franchise history. The Broncos fired him in January, one day after his team lost an AFC Divisional Game to the Colts.

Pagano's monster devoured Denver's coach.

Could Pagano's monster, which won faster than anyone dreamed – but hasn't won as big as everyone now dreams – devour Indianapolis' coach next?

We're watching. And this is what we saw on Sunday, the first day of camp: Chuck Pagano wearing a Colts T-shirt with the letters "BTM" nibbling at the edge of the team logo.

Build the monster, his shirt was saying.

You've built it, I'm saying. And its teeth are sharp.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel