For the second season in a row, the Indianapolis Colts fell in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs, only this time around, the final score was 33-30—as Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker landed the 40-yard game-winning field goal blow in the closing seconds of overtime to crush Colts fans hearts again at the end of extra regulation in Arrowhead.
There’s no moral victories in this, as the Colts will fall t0 0-2, with pretty close to a must-win game against their AFC South rival Houston Texans coming to town—to
avoid going 0-3 to start the 2026 campaign.
That being said, the Colts did look night-and-day different compared to last weekend’s ‘egg laying’ against the Baltimore Ravens at home, and to be fair, in the NFL, you’re never as bad as your last loss, or as good as your more recent victory. It was truly a spirited road effort by Indianapolis, even if they came up just short. For whatever reason, the Colts seem to play the Chiefs very well historically no matter the odds.
The Colts got off to a hot start with an opening drive offensive touchdown, which Tyler Warren capped off with a 1-yard touchdown reception. However, it was followed up by a Colts quarterback Daniel Jones interception, which was the exact same script as last weekend.
The Colts would recover this go around though, as Indianapolis and Kansas City traded punches throughout this one, as neither team ever led by more than a single score throughout the Sunday night primetime matchup.
Colts star running back Johnathan Taylor led the way for the Colts with 92 total rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns on 24 carries (3.8 ypc. avg.), as Indianapolis rightfully rode their workhorse in a tough road game.
On the other side, Kenneth Walker III was arguably just as good with 117 total rushing yards on 24 carries, and it’s scary to see Mahomes paired with such a pure rusher in his backfield.
Still working his way back from a torn Achilles, Daniel Jones was fairly good in this one on the road, completing 22 of 31 pass attempts for 210 passing yards, a passing touchdown and an interception, but he wasn’t Patrick Mahomes either, who completed 32 of a whopping 47 pass attempts for 382 total passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.
The Colts secondary, who admittedly were banged up in this one, will have to do some further soul searching, as expected to be a strength of their defense, they were not good in this one against Mahomes (although it was a bit of a coming out party for undrafted rookie defensive back Kapena Gushiken, who made two big plays in relief). Injuries to veteran starting cornerback Charvarius Ward and Sauce Gardner (the latter who did later return) certainly did not help matters though, but they have to put up more resistance going forward as a unit.
The Colts defense collectively surrendered a whopping 523 total yards defensively, which is 500+ offensive yards allowed for the second week in a row—both of which were losses. There’s a lot of work to be done defensively in all facets and all three levels of defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s unit. The status quo won’t cut it.
Colts kicker Spencer Shrader went a perfect 3 for 3 from field goal range, including a long of 49 yards, as well as a pristine 3 for 3 from extra point range.
Colts fans’ hearts had to have sunk, when wideout Laquon Treadwell had the football inexplicably punched out after getting up after connecting on a 48-yards pass from Jones to begin the Colts first offensive drive in overtime near the Kansas City 17-yard line. Fortunately, he was ruled down by contact, which looked like the right call after a number of slow motion replay angles, but it was close to being disaster and ‘night night’ for the Colts.
For the Colts, the continued status of lead wideout Alec Pierce, who reinjured his surgically repaired left ankle/heel late in the first quarter on a non-contact play (and couldn’t put any body weight on it), will be of critical concern. Pierce went to the medical tent with the help of trainers before being carted off the field. He was eventually downgraded from questionable to out, and obviously, did not return to the football field.
One final thought: The big national talking point from this game will be whether the Colts should’ve gone for it on 4th and 8 on the Kansas City 15-yard line with a chance to win, having 3:15 left in OT, and trailing the Chiefs 27-30. In my opinion, those same people should’ve been making the same argument then that the Colts should’ve gone for it on 4th and 4 on the IND 49-yard line with 34 seconds left in regulation, and tied 27-27, because if you’re “playing to win the game,” that’s actually the stronger play, because it’s not only a shorter distance to move the sticks, but a longer field for the Chiefs to cover as opposed to where things get tighter closer to the red zone.
Personally, I liked the latter more than the former because the Chiefs defense was simply teeing off on Jonathan Taylor on the Colts final offensive drive in overtime, and I didn’t like how Indianapolis looked offensively to successfully convert a 4th and 8th with a shorter field. They looked shaky at that point in time. We ended up losing anyways by trusting a tired and clearly underperforming defense against the always dangerous “Mahomes and Company,” so maybe by kicking the field goal in overtime, we just prolonged our eventual agony however.
