KANSAS CITY – Colts head coach Shane Steichen took responsibility for his offense’s issues in Week 12, which opened the door for the Kansas City Chiefs to erase an 11-point fourth quarter deficit and deal the Colts a 23-20 overtime loss on Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Colts took a 20-9 lead into the fourth quarter and possessed the ball three times over the final 15 minutes of regulation, with each of those drives resulting in a three-and-out; none of those three drives lasted more than 70 seconds. Quarterback Daniel Jones completed two of eight passes for 13 yards in the fourth quarter, while running back Jonathan Taylor rushed once for a loss of two in that same span.
“I feel like there’s a lot of stuff that I wanted to get called that I felt good about in the pass game, and we just weren’t efficient doing it,” Steichen said. “And it starts with me.”
The first three-and-out of the fourth quarter came after linebacker Zaire Franklin knocked the ball out of running back Kareem Hunt’s hands on the Colts’ 11-yard line, with cornerback Charvarius Ward Sr. jumping on the fumble at the Colts’ six-yard line. Taylor lost two yards on a rush to start the possession, and Jones threw incomplete twice, leading to a punt.
Kansas City took that punt and drove 56 yards on 11 plays for their first touchdown of the game, which cut the score to 20-17 midway through the fourth quarter.
On the ensuing possession, a play-action throw to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. was broken up by safety Bryan Cook; after a seven-yard gain on a screen to Taylor, Jones – in the face of pressure sent by Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo – threw incomplete over the middle to Pittman.
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The Colts’ defense forced a three-and-out of their own on Kansas City’s next possession; wide receiver Anthony Gould took the punt back to the Colts’ 49-yard line to with 5:45 left.
Jones was nearly picked off when he targeted tight end Tyler Warren to begin the drive and threw incomplete again toward Warren on second and 10. A six-yard completion to Pittman set up a fourth and four; the offense stayed on the field and tried to draw the Chiefs offside before taking a delay of game penalty and having Rigoberto Sanchez punt.
“Just trying to back them up there,” Steichen said. “We had the lead, I mean shoot, we had the lead, we’re up three, why not? So we don’t get it there, they’re going to be in great field position. So that’s why.”
Sanchez’s punt stuck the Chiefs at their own six-yard line, but a fourth-and-three 19-yard completion from Patrick Mahomes to wide receiver Rashee Rice sparked a drive that ended with kicker Harrison Butker connecting on a game-tying 25-yard field goal as time expired.
“Any time you have three-and-outs and you’re not moving the ball efficiently, it’s going to be hard for anyone to win football games,” Steichen said. “And we got to be better.”
The Colts won the coin toss ahead of the start of overtime and elected to receive, only to have another three-and-out – this time with Taylor being stuffed for a loss of two on a third-and-one handoff. Prior to that play, Jones completed a four-yard pass to tight end Drew Ogletree and Taylor picked up a five-yard gain on second down.
In total, the Colts’ final four possessions saw them run 12 plays (nine pass, three run) and gain 18 yards.
“I’ll go back and look at it but yeah, I think the backed up one we ran it, lost two yards got us in a second and pass situation,” Steichen said. “Next one we three it and we dumped it down to Taylor on a screen, got us to a third and three, didn’t convert there. And then we had the other one, we had an RPO and we threw it there to Tree and then obviously they stopped us on the third one. And so yeah. We gotta be better, I gotta be better.”
Jones, too, took responsibility for the Colts’ offensive stagnation down the stretch. The Colts also had two possessions in the third quarter reach the red zone but end in short field goals, which limited their point total on Sunday as well.
“Just didn’t execute in some key situations,” Jones said. “I mean, gotta do a better job, I think overall, in our execution, and certainly I have to do a better job in handling that stuff. So tough to have a stretch like that.”
