Chiefs survive scare from Colts to win OT thriller

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Harrison Butker kicked two field goals in overtime, the second a 40-yarder as time expired that Patrick Mahomes and Kenneth Walker III set up with a series of big plays, giving the Kansas City Chiefs a 33-30 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night.

Mahomes finished with 382 yards passing and three touchdowns, Walker ran for 117 yards, and Travis Kelce looked like a younger version of himself with nine catches for 101 yards and a score as the Chiefs improved to 2-0.

"The ball bounces funny ways. Things happen," said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, whose team was on the wrong end of a lot of one-score games last season. "I'm sure there are going to be other ones down the road that will be a fight like that."

Daniel Jones had 210 yards passing with a touchdown and a pick for the Colts. Jonathan Taylor had 92 yards rushing and two TDs.

The Chiefs thought they had won the game earlier in overtime on a bizarre sequence of events.

Butker kicked a 31-yard field goal to give them the lead, and the Colts (0-2) responded on their possession by having Jones throw deep to Laquon Treadwell, who had beaten L'Jarius Snead. Treadwell appeared to be bobbling the ball as he hit the ground, got up after he had completed the catch, had the ball popped loose and watched as the Chiefs pounced on it.

The play was ruled a fumble on the field, but the officials reviewed it and determined Treadwell was down by contact. That gave the Colts a chance to score a go-ahead touchdown, but three plays left them facing fourth-and-8 and a decision.

"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."

That gave the Chiefs another chance with 3:11 left in the extra session, and they handed off to Walker on three straight plays to reach midfield. But the backbreaker for Indianapolis was a 22-yard pass to the running back, which set up Butker’s winning 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."

The Colts had chalked up a disastrous defensive performance against Baltimore in Week 1 to communication problems, and they hoped to solve them by having linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither relay the play calls rather than safety Cam Bynum. But the tweak didn’t seem to make much difference as Kansas City was marched up and down the field throughout the game.

Each of the Chiefs' first four drives would have produced points had Butker not missed a 51-yard field goal try.

Yet the Colts were able to match Mahomes and Co. blow-for-blow over the first 30 minutes. Tyler Warren had three catches and a touchdown, Josh Downs picked apart a Chiefs secondary missing safety Chamarri Conner for a second straight game, and Taylor had 75 of his rushing yards — the highlight a 24-yard touchdown scamper that gave Indianapolis a 20-17 lead at the break.

The Chiefs allowed Denver to run for just 61 yards total in their 31-10 win last week.

Kansas City finally slowed the Colts' offense by refusing to give them the ball. The Chiefs held it for all but 2:22 of the third quarter, getting a go-ahead TD pass to Jalen Royals and setting up Butker’s field goal to start the fourth.

Indianapolis answered with an 8 1/2-minute drive that Taylor finished with his second TD run to tie it at 27l with 5:37 to go.

Neither offense could produce points down the stretch, though, leaving the game to be decided in 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."

Injuries

Colts: WR Alex Pierce was carted to the locker room with a left heel injury early in the second quarter. ... DE Michael Clemons left late in the first half with a toe injury. ... CB Charvarius Ward hurt his groin early in the second half.

Chiefs: RT Jaylon Moore left briefly in the third quarter but was able to finish the game.

Up next

Colts: Host the Texans next Sunday.

Chiefs: Visit the Dolphins next Sunday.