Patrick Mahomes leads Chiefs to dramatic overtime win against Colts

An unusual overtime fumble appeared to give the Kansas City Chiefs a victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night.

Instead of taking the loss, Indianapolis regained an opportunity to win, yet opted to play for a tie.

Once again, Patrick Mahomes and his teammates made an opposing squad pay for granting them one last opportunity.

After both teams exchanged field goals in the extra period, Mahomes followed a pair of strong carries by Kenneth Walker III by completing a long pass to his running back. The play set up Harrison Butker‘s 40-yard field goal as time expired, lifting Kansas City to a 33-30 win — the second consecutive year they defeated Indianapolis on an overtime kick.

“I mean, I think guys were resilient, and we just strained to finish,” Mahomes said. “It wasn’t always pretty. There were times we didn’t execute at a high level. But guys continued to fight and continued to push and we found a way at the end.”

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Mahomes finished with 382 passing yards and three touchdowns, Walker ran for 117 yards, and tight end Travis Kelce looked like a younger version of himself, catching nine passes for 101 yards and a touchdown as Kansas City improved to 2-0.

It took a bit longer than they first anticipated.

Butker had booted a 31-yard field goal in overtime to put Kansas City ahead, and the winless Colts (0-2) answered on their drive when Jones threw deep to Laquon Treadwell, who beat L’Jarius Snead. Treadwell appeared to bobble the ball going to the ground, stood up after making the catch, had the ball popped loose, and saw the Chiefs recover it.

Officials ruled the play a fumble on the field, but video review determined Treadwell was down by contact. That handed Indianapolis a chance for a go-ahead touchdown, but three plays left them facing fourth-and-8 and a choice.

“Had a play called. Had to love the look to run it there,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “We took the delay and kicked the field goal.”

Turned out to be the wrong decision.

Kansas City still had 3:11 remaining in overtime when they regained the ball, giving it to Walker on three straight rushes to reach midfield. As the Colts stacked the line of scrimmage to halt him, Mahomes threw a clever pass to his running back, turning it into a 22-yard gain that positioned Butker for the game-winning kick.

“We had worked throughout the week dropping it over the top,” Mahomes said. “They were in a pressure look. We were able to change the play. You get the ball in his hands, Rashee (Rice) did a great job of blocking on the perimeter. That got us in field goal range.”

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“Overall we fought like crazy,” Steichen said, “but it wasn’t good enough. And then they find a way to make a play at the end.”

The Colts defensive unit showed little improvement after a difficult Week 1 performance against Baltimore that they attributed to communication errors. They attempted to address the issue by having linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither call the plays instead of safety Cam Bynum, but the change made little difference as Kansas City moved up and down the field.

Each of Kansas City’s opening four drives would have yielded points had Butker not missed a 51-yard field goal attempt.

Yet the Colts matched Mahomes and company blow-for-blow throughout the first half. Tyler Warren recorded three catches and a touchdown, Josh Downs picked apart a secondary playing without injured safety Chamarri Conner for a second straight week, and Taylor accumulated 75 rushing yards — highlighted by a 24-yard touchdown run that gave Indianapolis a 20-17 halftime lead.

Kansas City held Denver to just 61 total rushing yards in a 31-10 victory last week.

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“We did some good things. Thought the run game was good. Moved the ball. I thought we were pushing,” Jones said.

Kansas City finally quieted the Colts’ offense by keeping the ball away from them. The Chiefs held possession for all but 2:22 of the third quarter, taking the lead on a touchdown pass to Jalen Royals and setting up Butker’s field goal early in the fourth.

Indianapolis responded with an eight-and-a-half-minute drive that Taylor finished with his second touchdown run, tying the game at 27 with 5:37 left in regulation.

Neither offense could convert points down the stretch, sending the matchup into overtime.

“It was great that the guys competed for four quarters,” Reid said. “You’re going to have this. The parity in this league is crazy. You’re going to have some once-score games. You have to bear down and and our guys did that.”

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