Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is no stranger to playing against a Lou Anarumo-coached defense. Sunday night’s game will be the eighth meeting between Mahomes and the Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator.
Mahomes and the Chiefs are 4-3 all time against Anarumo. Before coaching in Indianapolis, Anarumo was the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2019-2024.
The most famous of these matchups was the 2022 AFC Championship Game, AKA The “Burrowhead” Game.
The Bengals
were flying high, coming off a Super Bowl appearance the previous season that came immediately after beat the Chiefs in the AFC Championship at Arrowhead, in what may have been the biggest collapse of the Patrick Mahomes era. This prompted many players on the Bengals team to get big heads and talk out of their backsides, especially defensive back Mike Hilton, who famously referred to Arrowhead Stadium as “Burrowhead,” a reference to Bengals starting quarterback Joe Burrow.
The Chiefs went on to defeat the Bengals, 23-20, en route to their third Super Bowl appearance in the Patrick Mahomes era.
This also gave us one of the greatest Travis Kelce postgame moments of his career.
In their seven previous matchups, the Chiefs have scored an average of 24.7 points per game. But the Colts are coming off a Week 1 trouncing, when they gave up over 500 yards of total offense to the Baltimore Ravens; 202 of those yards came on the ground, with running back Derrick Henry gashing them for 144 yards and three touchdowns.
The Colts ranked 31st in passing yards allowed last season. The team did, however, finish seventh in the league in rushing yards allowed. So only time will tell if Week 1 was who the Colts are in 2026 or if the Ravens game was an anomaly.
Despite the seemingly favorable matchup for the Chiefs, Mahomes isn’t taking Anarumo or the Colts’ defense lightly, telling reporters on Thursday afternoon that “Coach (Lou) Anarumo is one of the best defensive coordinators I’ve went up against.”
“If you look at their defensive line, their safeties, their corners, they have really good football players or linebackers. And so, they’ll have a lot of pride, and they’ll come out with the right mentality.”
Mahomes also highlighted that Anarumo is adept at tailoring his scheme and game plan around the team he is going up against. So wait and see if the Colts come out determined to stop the run, or if Kenneth Walker III will have another field day in Week 2.
