Beating Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes savvy, talent and an advanced knowledge of situational football, which helps explain while it’s still rare, even with Mahomes struggling to some extent. 

You’d think coach Shane Steichen of the Indianapolis Colts has all of those key elements in spades, but Steichen has a severe case of football brain fog against Kansas City  yesterday. He had multiple opportunities to put down Mahomes and the Chiefs, but Steichen seemed to be coaching not to lose in the second half of yesterday’s 23-20 loss, and it cost him dearly. 

Bill Barnwell of ESPN took a deep dive into how this all went down, and he offered some key insights. The main idea seemed to be keep Colts quarterback Daniel Jones on track and playing a clean game, but the constant three-and-outs and lack of yardage in the fourth quarter gave Mahomes an opportunity, and the quarterback took it. 

Jones didn’t attempt a pass that went over 20 yards in the air, which proved to be a smart move initially. Receiver Ashton Dulin broke free for a 48-yarder, with most of the yardage coming after the catch, and Jonathan Taylor had a 27-yard run. 

But that strategy ultimately backfired on Steichen. Once Chiefs defensive coordinator realized that Jones wasn’t going to try to take the top off the Kansas City defense with longer throws, he was able to apply pressure, which gave Mahomes the opportunity to hit some longer throws of his own. 

The other decision that cost Steichen was ignoring running back Jonathan Taylor. One of Taylor’s big strengths is that he can often look stymied for stretches of a given game, then break free fr a long run, but he can’t do that if he isn’t getting carries consistently. 

This game was especially gut-wrenching for the Colts given the struggles the Chiefs are still having closing out drives. This problem has been getting consistently worse—it was one of the reasons they lost to the Denver Broncos, and Kansas City had six drives of over 50 yards, but kicker Harrison Butker’s five field goals speak for themselves. The Chiefs even gifted the Colts two turnovers, but it didn’t matter much due to the strategy issues. 

Steichen will face the same kinds of offensive issues when the Houston Texans come to town with their formidable defense, and the AFC South is now a real race. As for the Chiefs, they still haven’t found a reliable formula for winning, but Patrick Mahomes will find a way to pull the rabbit out of the hat if you give him enough chances.