The closing moment of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 23-20 overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon was unfamiliar territory for this year’s Chiefs, because placekicker Harrison Butker’s field goal secured the season’s first one-score victory. Before then, Kansas City was 0-5 in such games.
It was also quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ first fourth-quarter comeback of 2025 after he led the NFL in that category (5) in 2024. He entered regulation’s final period 20-9, treading water against a strong defensive game plan from Indianapolis defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.
After that, Mahomes completed 11 of 17 passes for 158 yards while captaining three scoring drives. He added two impactful scrambles and a two-point conversion in which he rifled a pass between defenders into the end zone.
In his postgame press conference, head coach Andy Reid acknowledged the offense’s strong finish — and praised both Mahomes and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
“Listen, he kept firing, which the great ones do,” Reid said of Mahomes. “[Nagy] dialed up some stuff that was right in his wheelhouse, and he did a great job with all of that. [Pass Game Coordinator] Joe Bleymaier — and I mean all of the guys — contributed on it, but the coordinator was on fire today. He did a good job.”
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Kansas City controlled the flow of this game on both sides of the ball, but the offense deserves credit for sustaining six scoring possessions for 10 or more plays. The Chiefs ended the game with 42:35 of possession compared to the Colts’ 25:28. Running back Kareem Hunt set a career high with 30 rushing attempts, churning out 104 yards.
The team committed to its ground attack, which was made possible by a strong performance by the offensive line. Position coach Andy Heck had his group prepared to carry the load.
“I thought the line was controlling things there pretty good,” Reid pointed out, “which was important. We were getting positive yards on first down, which was good. We ran a little bit on second down, likewise. Coach Heck puts all of that together — I mean, that’s his deal. He did a great job schematically with it. They were dialed up and the guys executed them.”
As the slugfest wore on, this reliance on the running game helped open up the passing game.
“Whenever you’re able to run the football like that,” Mahomes explained to reporters, “it makes defenses come up — and then you can hit some of these deeper throws down the field like we did at the end there.”
Eventually, this helped wide receiver Rashee Rice find space downfield. He registered a career-high 141 receiving yards — with 132 of them spread over five receptions late in the game.
“He’s able to catch the ball and make yards after catch,” Mahomes said of Rice. “A lot of these play-calls that he caught weren’t necessarily the first read. We called shots down the field. [The Colts] wanted to take away shots down the field. You can hit him at 18-20 yards — and all of a sudden that’s 40 yards, that’s 30 yards and then you can hit him on a shallow cross and he gets a big first down and gets 10-15 yards. He does a lot; he can beat you down the field, but he can also beat you intermediate.”
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Wide receiver Xavier Worthy also added a 31-yard reception in the fourth quarter — and it may have been the most impressive of all. On third down, Mahomes waited for Worthy to come open, making a throw as a blitzer bore down on him. The pass came in behind him, but Worthy still secured the crucial completion.
Worthy’s injury status — at one point, he left the game in pain — made the moment even more significant.
“He wants to be out there,” observed Mahomes. “He’s not in the perfect shape right now as far as the shoulder —and then the ankle and the foot and all that different type of stuff — but he’s a competitor. He’s someone that wants to be on the football field, and so he’s going to do whatever he can to make plays happen in the biggest moments. We called his number there at the end — and he made the play happen.”
Reid admired Worthy’s resiliency — and so did Mahomes.
“This is exactly what we needed,” he declared. “To win against a really good football team. [When] the game’s not going your way, you could’ve folded in that situation and been kind of [like that] for the rest of the season. The guys responded and then found a way to win — every single unit. [On] offense, we found a way at the end. [The] defense stood tall multiple times to give us chances, and then Harrison and Matt Araiza did a great job at flipping the field and making field goals.
“We needed a win like this. And now, let’s just try to build off of it.”
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