His time with the Colts ended after a 30–10 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles at Veterans Stadium on September 29, 1974 which extended its season-opening losing streak to three. While stalking the Colts sideline during the second half, team owner Robert Irsay, who had a preference for Bert Jones as the starting quarterback over Marty Domres, asked Schnellenberger about when he was going to make such a change. Schnellenberger's sarcastic reply resulted in his postgame dismissal. Irsay had first gone to the press box to inform Thomas that he was the new head coach and then to the locker room to announce his actions to the Colts players before breaking the news to Schnellenberger in a heated discussion in the coaches office.