Indy fans are still stunned. The Colts had an 11-point cushion against the Chiefs, and yet it slipped away in the last minutes. The Kansas City crowd would call it another night of magic for the Chiefs, but the Blue Nation will never forget this collapse. Soon after the game, head coach Shane Steichen stepped up and shared his view on what went wrong.

The Colts’ offense kept stalling. In fact, they went 3 and out on their last four drives. They did not move the chains once in the fourth quarter or overtime. Right after the loss, Steichen did not dodge blame.

The Colts’ head coach said, “Obviously, very frustrating. Not up to our standards today. We got to be better, and it starts with myself.”

To start with, where did the Colts go wrong? Steichen’s clock management simply did not match the moment. When the defense made a critical stop with under six minutes left, almost everyone in Colts Nation expected one thing. It was time for Jonathan Taylor. Instead, Shane Steichen called zero plays for the league leader in rushing yards and touchdowns.

The sequence got even stranger. Quarterback Daniel Jones threw two incomplete passes. Then he hit Michael Pittman Jr. for a short 6-yard gain. However, the clock barely moved, and everyone knew Patrick Mahomes had too much time. If the Colts had run the ball on all three plays, at least two minutes would have burned off. It might not have stopped a game-tying or game-winning drive from Mahomes, but it would have made it harder. It was poor clock control and poor play selection.

Sure, the Chiefs blew up plenty of runs all game. Still, Taylor kept breaking tackles and finding small lanes. He kept grinding. Because of that, Steichen needs to tighten his play calling as the Colts enter the final stretch. The team had only one true touchdown drive, since the other came off Latu’s short field interception.

After the loss, Jones also stepped forward and delivered his message.

After Shane Steichen, Daniel Jones opens up on the loss

The Colts looked sharp early, but the momentum faded fast. After putting up 14 points before halftime, Indy slowed to only 6 after the break. Two third-quarter trips reached the red zone, yet both stalled and settled for field goals. Then, the fourth quarter turned ugly. Daniel Jones hit only two throws for 13 yards across three drives. The offense gained just 6 total yards in that final frame.

It was hard to pick a target for blame. Jonathan Taylor never found a running lane, and Jones never found room to breathe. The Chiefs’ defense kept crashing the Colts’ front five and shutting down every spark.

Afterward, Jones addressed the issue. He did not hide from the mistakes.

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“I just didn’t execute in some key situations. Yeah, got to do a better job, I think, overall, in our execution. And certainly, I have to do a better job in handling all that stuff. So, tough, yeah, tough to have a stretch like that towards the end of the game,” Indianapolis’ quarterback said.

Jones connected on 19 of 31 passes for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. Yet the Colts’ line kept collapsing. He threw under pressure all afternoon. Over the last three games, that pressure has followed him nonstop. When he finally gets a clean pocket, this offense looks completely different.

Now they head toward a divisional matchup against the Texans. And before that kickoff, Indy must find protection that actually holds.