Chiefs-Colts Was The Classic Playoff Game We Get Every Year

It happens nearly every year and we're always surprised, but Chiefs-Colts was another insane NFL playoff game. After a close first quarter, the Chiefs jumped all over the Colts in the second quarter with 21 points and headed into the half—on an Andrew Luck interception—with a 31-10 lead. The Colts came all the way back to win it in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.

The second half started where the first left off. Luck threw another interception—he had three on the day, to Alex Smith's zero—and the Chiefs scored in three plays. After that, the Colts outscored the Chiefs 35-6. The loss of Jamaal Charles proved too much, despite the big lead.

While the Colts were scoring at will on Kansas City's defense—Brandon Flowers also left early for concussion evaluation—the Chiefs were a disaster on offense. Following the touchdown, the remaining second-half possessions the Chiefs had went as follows:

turnover

three-and-out/punt

field goal

stalled drive/punt

field goal

turnover on downs

So now the question becomes which narrative sticks? Is it that Andy Reid isn't a big-game coach, or is Alex Smith not a big-game quarterback? Ignoring the larger sample size of the 2013 season, both guys had the kind of day that will feed the arguments; Smith missed a few wide-open and single-covered men today when he could have really used a completion and Reid had the timeout snafu coming out of the two-minute warning. Unfortunately for both, we're probably not even talking about this if they have Jamaal Charles in the backfield all game.