The Indianapolis Colts entered Week 12 looking like one of the AFC’s most complete teams. At 8-2 and rolling behind an explosive offense, they appeared ready to measure themselves against the three-time reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs.
And for three quarters, they looked the part, with Laiatu Latu opened the afternoon with an interception on Patrick Mahomes’ very first throw, and then Drew Ogletree added a highlight-reel, toe-tapping touchdown. The defense even forced Mahomes into back-to-back sacks before halftime.
But those early flashes weren’t enough for this formidable opponent, and Kansas City clawed back from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit and ultimately stunned the Colts 23-20 in overtime, handing Indianapolis its most painful loss of the season.
After the game, head coach Shane Steichen didn’t deflect. Instead, he openly shouldered the blame for an offense that fell flat in the final 15 minutes. Steichen began his postgame availability by making the message unmistakably clear — “it starts with him.”
“Credit to Kansas City’s defense. They did a good job, but we gotta be better — I gotta be better for the guys,” Steichen said, framing both the disappointment and the standard he expects.
The Colts produced three straight three-and-outs in the fourth quarter, giving Mahomes repeated chances to mount a comeback. Quarterback Daniel Jones struggled down the stretch as well, completing just two passes in the final frame. When asked what went wrong offensively, Steichen pointed to early-down inefficiency and a lack of balance.
“Yeah, I think being efficient on first and ten, at times we did that, but, we didn’t do it enough in the second half. It wasn’t good enough. It starts with myself,” he said, adding that the run and pass games both stalled at critical moments.
Steichen also revealed frustration with missed opportunities in the passing attack, and closed his remarks by stressing the need to eliminate costly mistakes.
“There was 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… it starts with me,” he reiterated. “It wasn’t good enough…those are the self-inflicted wounds, that we can't have and we got to get them cleaned up.”
The defeat is a gut punch for an Indianapolis team that had been surging, it drops the Colts to 8-3, still, they remain one of the top teams at the AFC South table, and control their postseason destiny.
Indianapolis faces the Houston Texans next weekend in what immediately becomes a must-regroup matchup, and one loss doesn’t undo a promising season, but how the Colts answer over the next three weeks will determine whether this setback becomes a turning point or a warning sign.
