5 Things Learned: Colts Blow Double-Digit Lead In Loss To Chiefs
Source: David Eulitt / Getty
1. Shane Steichen, Daniel Jones Cost Colts:
Make no mistake about it, this Colts loss falls squarely on Shane Steichen abandoning his best player, and Daniel Jones unable to deliver for his head coach. In September and October, Steichen and Jones were borderline brilliant when it came to managing and producing for this offense. However, questions in these areas have risen in recent games. On Sunday, the offense was a total no show in the 2nd half, with Jonathan Taylor hardly touching the football. In the last 4 Colts drives of the game, they didn’t record a first down, with Taylor having just 1 carry on the first 3 drives. In total, Jones went 3-of-8 for 12 yards on those drives. And Taylor had 3 carries for 1 yard (only 1 carry on the first 10 plays). Not only did Steichen take the ball out of his best player’s hands, but with minimal clock-eating from the offense, it further exposed the Indy defense having to be on the field way too much against a future Hall of Famer, and kept the Chiefs from facing critical clock decisions, despite being down two scores. Remember, Taylor came into Sunday averaging 7.5 yards per carry in 2nd halves this year (compared to 4.6 in first halves). He’s at his best as he is wearing down defenses. Again, Steichen and Jones have been largely great in 2025. This was the polar opposite of it. And it happened to come in such a big game, given the opponent, narrowing AFC playoff picture.
2. Defense Nearly Does Enough
For so much of Sunday, the Colts defense turned Patrick Mahomes into “Checkdown Charlie.” And while the defense showed some 4th quarter cracking, with zero complementary help from the offense, they stood tall on a goal-to-go with less than a minute to play to force the game into overtime. A huge tackle for loss by Germaine Pratt started that stand, with blanketing coverage keeping the Chiefs from a game-winning touchdown in regulation. But in overtime, a clearly tired Indy D gave up a couple huge chunk plays. By no means was Sunday perfect for the Colts defense. A consistent pass rush, sans DeForest Buckner for at least two more games, remains a concern. But it’s hard to lay much blame at Lou Anarumo’s unit on Sunday. Even when Mahomes had ample time to throw, that was mostly met with strong coverage on the back end, plenty of ball patting and hopping around from the quarterback before having to settle for dumps/checkdowns. For one of the very few times this season, we exit a Colts game with more blame for the offense than the defense.
3. Big Picture Daniel Jones Question?
While Shane Steichen’s decision-making to keep the ball in hands of No. 17 was certainly questionable, it was quite the show of confidence in his starting quarterback. For Jones, it was a chance to slam the door shut on a huge win, and silence those in the doubting community. Steichen gave Jones several chances for that. But the quarterback was unable to deliver in a moment we grade QBs more critically. Jones was 3-of-8 on the final 4 drives of the game and was beyond fortunate the Chiefs dropped a 4th quarter INT that could have ended the game in regulation. Jones was largely himself through the first half and into the third quarter. Although not hitting Josh Downs on 3rd-and-4 in the red zone was an early third quarter missed chance at stretching the lead to two touchdowns. Jones ended Sunday 19-of-31 for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. The offense produced season lows in first downs (10) and total yards (255). But the 4th quarter/overtime side of Jones is why some understandably wonder just what the pay day should look like for him this offseason. As good as Jones has been in 2025, this will continue to be a lingering question even if the Colts have backed themselves into a post-’25 future with him at QB.
4. Timely Turnovers Should Not Be Forgotten
Had the Colts offense done its part to produce a few more first downs, or even the wilting defense recorded one more stop, we’d be talking so much about these plays. NFL, can you put Laiatu Latu on the Pro Bowl ballot at cornerback? Latu recorded his, team leading, 3rd interception of the season on Sunday afternoon. The INT came on the Chiefs second play from scrimmage. First, dropping Latu into coverage here was textbook by Lou Anarumo. Knowing the Chiefs wanted to get the ball out quick backed up on their own goal line, Anarumo dropped his best/most athletic edge rusher into a quick rhythm window. And then Latu shows off his athleticism by pawing the pass up in the air with his right hand and then turning around to find the potential turnover. And how about the forced fumble by Zaire Franklin as the Chiefs tried to get back into the game early in the 4th quarter? With the Chiefs producing their best drive of the day, it was Frankling stripping Kareem Hunt, as Mooney Ward pounced on the loose ball to thwart yet another Chiefs drive from crossing the goal line. That was the Chiefs first lost fumble of this 11-game season. These were massive, massive plays, that now get remembered in a loss.
5. Division Door Opening?
As the Colts return from their bye week, they drop a road conference game, with the rest of the AFC continuing to push forward. Given how the Patriots (10-2) and Broncos (9-2) have paced themselves, Sunday’s loss does sting a bit in trying to secure that single bye as the No. 1 seed. Unusually, the Colts having a record of 8-3 isn’t carrying as much weigh as usual as the Colts now head towards 4 AFC South games in the final 6 weeks. With both the Jaguars and the Texans sitting above .500, these next two games against each of those will be massive in the Colts holding their ground atop the AFC South. Simply, one can’t stress the importance of these upcoming divisional games. For Houston, the expectation is C.J. Stroud will be back under center as the Colts play their first home game since late October.
6. QUICK HITTERS
-Injury Report: The following Colts were inactive on Sunday: CB-Johnathan Edwards, S-Reuben Lowery III, RB-D.J. Giddens, TE-Will Mallory, OT-Luke Tenuta. The following players got injured and did not return: WR-Ashton Dulin (hamstring)
-Key Stat: On the final 4 offensive drives of the game, the Colts totaled just 13 net yards on 12 plays, with 4 straight 3-and-outs.
-What’s Next: The Colts (8-3) are returning home for the first time in more than a month, taking on the Texans (6-5) next Sunday at 1:00.
