Bill, with all due respect, one can criticize Polian without needing to defend Levy/Jauron, who were a catastrophe.
Polian has done wonderful things, for sure. My thought on all this, which may or may not be shared by others, is that the collapse of the Colts shows how silly it is to christen anyone a "genius" without reference to how much unplanned dumb luck goes into sports success. Polian drafted Manning, and the Colts have been good as long as Manning has played well, but neither Polian nor any other GM or Coach has the magical power to make bad players good. GMs and Coaches help at the margin—making good players work together better, or filling the holes around excellent players. Polian was once very good at that, but what the Colts have become is an indication that the past few years have not been as good. In fact, none of the successful teams Polian built—not the Bills, not the Panthers, and apparently not the Colts as of this year—have carried on after the central core of great players faded. Heck, he barely lasted four years in Carolina at all, which everyone seems to forget. He caught lightning in a bottle, but then fled the scene.
On a related point, this is why I do not like the term "dynasty," which is used much too loosely. There have been great teams, sure, but most of them are only great as long as the core of great players has been around. A "dynasty," which suggests to me continued success through several "generations," only exists when a team can stay on top consistently as the cast changes. By that more stringent criteria, good teams like the Steel Curtain Steelers are not a dynasty, since they floundered after Bradshaw and Co. left. The only real dynasties that I can think of are the Raiders from 1967 to 1983 or maybe the Dolphins between 1970 and 1994, or the Cowboys between 1966 and 1983.
That may be an issue for another thread. But there it is.