The Indianapolis Colts defense was mangled and leaderless on Sunday. However, the team managed to secure a stunning 19-13 victory against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Indianapolis’ defense was missing All-Pro Darius Leonard and starting safeties Malik Hooker and Clayton Geathers were also out against the Chiefs. This seemed especially troubling at first because Kansas City boast a top five offense in the league, even without Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins. Thus, leading up to Sunday’s game, the 2-2 Colts were fully expecting a loss to the 4-0 Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Instead, Indianapolis flipped the script in what looked like the biggest upset of the season, as the Chiefs suffered their first defeat of 2019. The previous lowest amount of points scored behind Mahomes was 26. With former Chief Justin Houston leading the charge, the pass rush was relentless to never let Mahomes get into rhythm as the usually slippery QB was sacked four times. Before this game, Mahomes has only been sacked three times all season. He would finish by completing only 22 of 39 on passes.
30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW
The Colts defense also only allowed 36 rushing yards for the entire game. On the other side of the football, running back Marlon Mack, who was questionable until game day, took control of the contest by rushing for 132 yards on 29 carries. The Colts took great advantage of the Chiefs’ league-worst run defense and kept Mahomes off the field in he process with their run-centric offense. Indianapolis dominated possession time — which was a massive factor to the win — as they held the ball for 36 minutes flat compared to Kansas City’s 22:45.
While Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett wasn’t at his best either, it was the defense and running game that made this such a well-earned upset for this Colts team. The Colts will try to stay hot into their bye week as their next game will be against the Houston Texans in Week seven. Conversely, the Chiefs will look to recover by facing the Texans in Week six.
