The Colts are a team known and built to play with the lead, but for the second week in a row that hasn’t been the case. Monday night they squandered a first half lead in Tampa against the Bucs and after a hot start Sunday afternoon against Kansas City, Indy fell apart in the second half and finished oh so cold to remain winless.
“We collapsed. It’s (playing with the lead) familiar territory to us. We use to keep our leads and we completely blew it,” Pro Bowl defensive end Robert Mathis said. “I wish I had an excuse for you, I don’t. We have to be men about it, we have to get better and we have to do our jobs.”
Indy jumped out to an early 17-0 lead scoring on three of their initial four first half possessions. Both touchdowns were pitch and catches from Indianapolis quarterback Curtis Painter to wide receiver Pierre Garçon. The first was a six yard pass on second-and-six with 7:36 on the left to play in the first quarter that capped an 80 yard, 12 play drive.
A couple possessions later Adam Vinatieri split the up rights from 53 yards when an eight play, 45 yard drive stalled early in the second quarter. After a Kansas City three-and-out, Painter and Garcon connected again on first-and-10 from their own 33 yard line for a deep 67 yard touchdown pass down the right sideline.
Painter was 15-for-27 passing for 277 yards, with a quarterback rating of 115.8 and Garcon had five catches for 125 yards.
“We’ve had some big plays and it’s been going well,” Painter said about his chemistry with Garçon on the field. “He’s a guy that obviously makes tremendous plays.”
The Chiefs responded and quarterback Matt Cassel hit receiver Dwayne Bowe for a 41 yard touchdown pass with 5:20 left in the second quarter to put Kansas City on the board.
On the very next possession the Colts marched 80 yards in eight plays and rookie running back Delone Carter scored his first professional touchdown, and Indy’s last of the game, on a three yard plunge up the middle on second-and-goal with just over a minute to play in the half that gave the Colts a 24-7 lead.
Cassel then led the Chiefs offense on a six play, 80 yard touchdown drive that took just 56 seconds when he and receiver Steve Breaston connected on a 16 yard touchdown pass to bring them within ten, 24-14 going into half.
“We had a chance to get them shut down,” Indianapolis head coach Jim Caldwell said about the Chiefs touchdown drive late in the second half. “That was tough. That certainly was a very, very key drive.”
The second half was all Kansas City. In the third quarter they dominated the time of possession and had 10 first downs while Indy didn’t have any. They had 138 yards on 21 plays compared to the Colts five plays for 16 yards. With 40 seconds left in the third Cassel and Bowe connected for their second touchdown combination that capped a 12 play, 93 yard drive.
The Colts struggles continued in the fourth quarter and with 5:21 left to play in regulation Cassel again found Breaston this time for an 11 yard game winning touchdown pass that gave the Chiefs their first lead of the game.
“It’s frustrating obviously. Very disappointing that we just can’t finish, that’s the key,” Caldwell said in reference to his teams play this season. “We have to be able to finish and we haven’t been able to do so thus far.”
