This game was as ugly as they come for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Buy Chiefs TicketsThey started the game off on the wrong foot with some negative momentum in the special teams game. It seemed to bleed over into the rest of the game slowly throughout a full four quarters. In the end, the Indianapolis Colts played the better game and really earned their first win of the season.
So what else did we learn about the Chiefs in their latest game?
Final Score: Colts 20, Chiefs 17
The Kansas City Chiefs couldn’t seem to get out of their own way at many points in this game. Even when they made good plays, it seemed that there were a few bad ones waiting around the corner to just suck all of the momentum away. The offense, defense and special teams all had some egregious errors in execution, play-calling and situational play. Flatout, the Chiefs didn’t perform well enough to get a win against the Indianapolis Colts.
Weekly Awards
- Chiefs Wire Game Ball: LB Nick Bolton
- Harrison Butker Rookie of the Game: CB Jaylen Watson
- Casey Wiegmann Veteran of the Game: DT Khalen Saunders
- Jamaal Charles Offensive Player of the Game: TE Travis Kelce
- Bobby Bell Defensive Player of the Game: CB L’Jarius Sneed
- Morten Andersen Special Teams Player of the Game: P Tommy Townsend
- Otis Taylor Play of the Game: JuJu Smith-Schuster’s 53-yard reception in the fourth quarter.
- Wesley Roesch Stat of the Game: Chiefs 3-of-10 on third down.
Quick-hitting observations and analysis
- This is the worst game from the Chiefs’ special teams unit in recent memory. Dave Toub is going to have some animated notes for his guys this week. Tommy Townsend might be the only player that doesn’t get an earful.
- Fans are going to be frustrated with Skyy Moore after this game, but it’s important to remember that he hasn’t been a punt returner before. This is an entirely new role for him and it’s clear he’s still adjusting to making decisions and fielding punts.
- L’Jarius Sneed deserves a ton of credit for his performance in this one. Had a huge first half and really showed up at some key moments during the game.
- Travis Kelce is so freaking good. He’s the No. 1 offensive weapon for teams to gameplan for and they just can’t figure out a way to contain him for a full four quarters. He made a ton of big plays on offense in this game, including scoring eight of the team’s points.
- The Colts had no answer for Steve Spagnuolo’s blitz game. He was bringing safeties, linebackers and cornerbacks and Indy had no protection calls that could stop them from making plays.
- Third downs were still a massive problem for the Chiefs in Week 3. They were just 2-of-7 on third down entering the fourth quarter.
- The offensive line did not have a good game at all. Mahomes was under pressure for a good portion of the game. Orlando Brown Jr., in particular, really struggled in pass protection. He was getting out of his stance very early and was lucky not to be called for false start on multiple occasions.
- The goal-to-go offense has not been particularly consistent for Kansas City this season. They’ve had to settle for a few short field goals and it feels like a problem.
- Generally speaking, I felt Darius Harris and Malik Herring both did a good job in their 2022 NFL season debuts. Harris in particular showed up often in place of Willie Gay Jr., making some big hits and key plays for Kansas City.
- The fake field goal in the fourth quarter was just a terrible coaching decision. Your special teams unit hasn’t been able to execute all day long. If you’re going for it on fourth down, Patrick Mahomes is your best option.
- On the Chiefs’ kicking game. They chose to sign Matt Ammendola over Chase McLaughlin, who was kicking for the Colts today. Ammendola missed an extra point and a field goal. McLaughlin made his extra point and made a 51-yard and 43-yard field goal on Sunday.
- Chris Jones is a veteran leader for this defense. He coughed up the chance for the Chiefs to get the ball to the offense back within five minutes in order to get into Matt Ryan’s face. He deserves to wear this loss more than anyone else.
Up next:
The Chiefs will travel to the host site of Super Bowl LV to face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’ll be the team’s first game “Sunday Night Football” this season.
