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You don’t need a four-year scheduling gap to make a Kansas City Chiefs vs Indianapolis Colts game feel like one of those must-see TV episodes, as both have met in back-to-back seasons, and both times have been decided in overtime. Sunday night, September 20, 2026, was the latest chapter as the Chiefs hosted the Colts in Arrowhead Stadium in a Week 2 Sunday Night Football clash that lived up to the hype.

Kansas City made off with a 33-30 overtime win on the back of an end-of-game field goal by Harrison Butker, their second win in succession against Indianapolis in a thriller that lasted the full 60 minutes. A Chiefs team looking to rebuild its morale after a lost 2025 campaign and a Colts team aiming to avoid an 0-2 start were both in for a tough battle in this Week 2 crossover clash.

Here’s the full breakdown: where each team stands, how the Indianapolis Colts vs Kansas City Chiefs series has actually played out since 1970, what happened Sunday night, how it compares to last year’s meeting, and some quick FAQs to wrap things up.

Kansas City Chiefs: Chasing Redemption After a Lost Season

The Chiefs were an immovable force in the AFC for nearly a decade, posting nine straight division championships, five conference championships, and three Super Bowl titles. That is, until 2025. After starting 0-2, Kansas City rallied to go 5-3, but then promptly collapsed, losing eight of their final nine games, including six straight to finish the season. The Chiefs not only ended their division championship streak, but their playoff streak, as well. And with Mahomes tearing his ACL in December, questions are now being asked about the future of the franchise.

Head coach Andy Reid, who is in his 14th season guiding the Chiefs, and general manager Brett Veach, who is in his 10th season leading the Chiefs’ personnel department, did not make a radical change to the team. The Chiefs relied mostly on continuity and made one significant addition. The Chiefs also signed running back Kenneth Walker III, who was named Super Bowl LX MVP by the Seattle Seahawks, to a three-year, $43.05 million contract. This acquisition gives Mahomes a new weapon after years of having to carry the team’s rushing attack himself.

What Makes Kansas City’s Offense Tick

• Mahomes, back from a surgically repaired knee, still finding Travis Kelce and a retooled receiving room
• Kenneth Walker III adding a physical dimension the Chiefs haven’t had since prime Kareem Hunt
• Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit still capable of takeovers late in games
• Harrison Butker remaining one of the most reliable clutch kickers in the league

Kansas City Chiefs Snapshot

Detail
Division	AFC West
Franchise QB	Patrick Mahomes
Head coach	Andy Reid (14th season)
GM	Brett Veach
Identity	Explosive, veteran-led offense; championship pedigree coming off a rare down year
Recent form	Missed the playoffs in 2025 (6-11) for the first time since 2014
2026 season start	2-0 after wins over Denver (31-10) and Indianapolis (33-30, OT)

Kansas City opened the season by throttling Denver 31-10, with Walker rushing for a career-high 173 yards in his Chiefs debut and Mahomes looking fully healthy, throwing for 184 yards and two scores while adding a rushing touchdown himself.

Indianapolis Colts: A Fast Start, Then the Same Old Story

If there’s a theme to the last calendar year in Indianapolis, it’s this: brilliant starts, brutal finishes. The Colts opened 2025 at 8-2, led the NFL in scoring, traded two first-round picks for All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner, and looked like a legitimate AFC contender behind a resurgent Daniel Jones. Then it all came apart – seven straight losses to close the year, a torn Achilles for Jones in Week 14, 44-year-old Philip Rivers coming out of retirement to start three games, and an 8-9 finish that left the franchise outside the playoffs for a fifth straight season.

Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon still chose stability, bringing back both head coach Shane Steichen (now in his fourth season, a 25-26 record to his name) and GM Chris Ballard (entering year 10, 70-78-1 overall). Jones is back healthy for 2026, and the pieces – Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman Jr., tight end Tyler Warren – are largely the same group that started 8-2 a year ago.

What Makes Indianapolis’s Offense Tick

• Daniel Jones, back from his torn Achilles, still looking for the form that had him playing like a top-10 QB last fall
• Jonathan Taylor, one of the league’s best running backs when healthy and featured
• Michael Pittman Jr. and rookie tight end Tyler Warren giving Jones two reliable targets
• A defense still adjusting after losing pieces from last year’s aggressive midseason additions

Indianapolis Colts Snapshot

Detail
Division	AFC South
Franchise QB	Daniel Jones
Head coach	Shane Steichen (4th season)
GM	Chris Ballard
Identity	High-ceiling offense that has twice collapsed down the stretch
Recent form	8-9 in 2025 after an 8-2 start; missed playoffs a fifth straight year
2026 season start	0-2 after a 41-23 loss to Baltimore and a 33-30 OT loss to Kansas City

The Colts’ opener was rough – a 41-23 home defeat to Baltimore that had little to do with rust and a lot to do with a defense that got carved up. Sunday night in Kansas City was a different story: Indianapolis actually led at halftime, 20-17, and pushed the Chiefs deep into the fourth quarter before overtime turned against them again.

NFL Schedule This Week (Week 2, 2026)

Sunday Night Football belonged to this one, airing on NBC and Peacock with an 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff from Arrowhead Stadium. Both teams are right back in action the following weekend.

Team	Next Matchup	Date	Location
Kansas City Chiefs	at Miami Dolphins	Sun, Sept 27	Away
Indianapolis Colts	vs. Houston Texans	Sun, Sept 27	Home

Given how tight both of the last two Colts vs Chiefs games have been, don’t be surprised if this pairing becomes a scheduling fixture rather than a rarity.

Head-to-Head History: Colts vs Chiefs

Unlike a lot of cross-conference pairings, Kansas City and Indianapolis actually see plenty of each other – the two have met 29 times since 1970, including four playoff clashes. Indianapolis holds the historical edge, though Kansas City has won the two most recent meetings, both in overtime.

Date	Winner	Location	Score	Notes
09/20/2026	Chiefs	Home	33-30 (OT)	Butker’s 40-yard walk-off in OT
11/23/2025	Chiefs	Home	23-20 (OT)	Chiefs rally from 11 down, Butker’s 5th FG wins it
09/25/2022	Colts	Away	20-17	Colts’ first win of that season
10/06/2019	Colts	Away	19-13
01/12/2019 (Divisional Playoff)	Chiefs	Home	31-13	Mahomes’ playoff debut; ended 25 years of playoff frustration vs. IND
10/30/2016	Chiefs	Away	30-14
12/22/2013	Colts	Home	23-7
12/23/2012	Colts	Home	20-13
10/09/2011	Chiefs	Away	28-24
10/10/2010	Colts	Home	19-9
01/06/2007 (Wild Card Playoff)	Colts	Away	23-8
11/18/2007	Colts	Home	13-10
10/31/2004	Chiefs	Home	45-35	Shootout, no punts by either team
01/11/2004 (Divisional Playoff)	Colts	Home	38-31	Peyton Manning: 3 TD passes, 304 yards
10/25/2001	Colts	Home	35-28
2000	Colts	Home	27-14
1999	Colts	Home	25-17
01/07/1996 (Divisional Playoff)	Colts	Home	10-7	Lin Elliott missed three Chiefs field goals
1996	Colts	Home	24-19
1990	Colts	Home	23-19
1985	Chiefs	Home	20-7
1980 (two meetings)	Split	–	62-59 combined	High-scoring split season
1979 (two meetings)	Chiefs (swept)	–	24-7 combined
1977	Colts	Home	17-6
1975	Colts	Home	28-14
1972	Chiefs	Home	24-10
1970	Chiefs	Home	44-24	Early franchise meeting

Through 29 all-time meetings, Indianapolis leads the overall Indianapolis Colts vs Kansas City Chiefs series 17-12, though that margin has been shrinking fast – Kansas City has now won the last two head-to-head, both by identical means: an overtime field goal from Harrison Butker.

A Few Things Worth Pointing Out

• Four playoff meetings, and the Colts won three of them before Kansas City finally broke through in the 2018 divisional round
• Back-to-back overtime finishes in 2025 and 2026 – something that hasn’t happened between these two franchises before
• The 2004 game (45-35) remains the most explosive regular-season shootout in series history
• Indianapolis’s largest margin of victory came in the 2006 Wild Card blowout, 23-8
• Kansas City has now won three of the last four meetings dating back to 2016

Three Eras of the Rivalry

Era 1: Early AFC Grinders (1970-1990) Split results, low stakes, mostly forgettable outside a couple of shootouts. Neither team had sustained success in this stretch, and the meetings reflected it.

Era 2: Manning’s Colts Dominance (1996-2013) This is where Indianapolis built its lead. With Peyton Manning under center for most of the stretch, the Colts won six of eight meetings, including two of the three playoff wins in series history – the infamous 1995 divisional round upset and the 2003 shootout in Kansas City.

Era 3: The Mahomes-Taylor Era (2016-Present) Kansas City has flipped the script late, winning three of the last four, including a playoff breakthrough in January 2019 and now consecutive overtime nail-biters in 2025 and 2026. If there’s a new theme to this Chiefs vs Colts rivalry, it’s that neither team can seem to put the other away without extra football.

Chiefs vs Colts Score: How Sunday Night Played Out

This one was a back-and-forth affair with little separation through most of the contest. Indianapolis struck first and Kansas City needed a touchdown from Travis Kelce to respond. The Colts again jumped out front before the break, netting a 20-17 halftime advantage. Kansas City regained the lead in the third quarter before Indianapolis equalled the score in the fourth to force overtime.

In the extra period, the Colts tied the game at 30-30 late in the game but survived a fumble scare on review. The Chiefs recovered possession with 3:11 remaining, and Kenneth Walker III took over at running back for Kansas City. He carried the ball four times along the winning drive and registered a 22-yard reception on third-and-1, which set up Mahomes to score on a 4-yard scramble. Kansas City then proceeded to run the clock down to one second before sending out Harrison Butker for the winning field goal, a 40-yarder that ended the game as time expired, giving the Chiefs a 33-30 victory over the Colts.

It was Butker’s second field goal of overtime, and it put Kansas City up to 2-0 on the young season, while knocking Indianapolis down to 0-2. For a Chiefs team that had gone 0-9 in one-score games for most of 2025, winning consecutive overtime games against the same foe, in consecutive years is a little sign that the margins are beginning to favor them again.

The Previous Meeting: Chiefs 23, Colts 20 (Nov. 23, 2025)

If Sunday night felt familiar, that’s because it was. Nearly ten months ago to the day, these two teams played an eerily similar game at the same stadium.

Indianapolis (8-3 and in first place in the AFC South) was up 20-9 early in the fourth quarter after two touchdown passes by Daniel Jones, but Kansas City answered with a Kareem Hunt touchdown and two-point conversion to cut it to three, followed by a late field goal by Harrison Butker to tie it 20-20, with Mahomes leading the offense on the ensuing overtime possession after the Colts failed to score for the fourth time in a row after a three-and-out, setting up a game-winning 27-yard field goal by Butker (colts vs chiefs).

Passing Leaders (11/23/25)

• Patrick Mahomes (KC): 352 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
• Daniel Jones (IND): 181 yards, 2 TD

Rushing Leaders

• Kareem Hunt (KC): 30 carries, 104 yards, 1 TD
• Jonathan Taylor (IND): 16 carries, 58 yards

Receiving Leaders

• Rashee Rice (KC): 8 catches, 141 yards
• Ashton Dulin (IND): 1 catch, 48 yards

That win snapped a two-game Chiefs losing streak and kept their playoff hopes alive for the moment, though Kansas City would finish 6-11 and miss out on the postseason regardless. It was the first crack in a seven-game losing streak for Indianapolis to close out the season. Two overtime losses to the same team at the same building separated by a year is something the Colts hope to put behind them soon enough.

Where Both Teams Stand After Week 2

The 2026 season is still young, but the early split is stark. Kansas City is 2-0 with wins that showcase both explosiveness (31-10 over Denver) and resilience (33-30 over Indianapolis). The Colts, meanwhile, are 0-2, having been blown out in Week 1 and then let a winnable overtime game slip away in Week 2.

Stat	Kansas City Chiefs	Indianapolis Colts
Record	2-0	0-2
Points Per Game (through Wk 1)	31.0	23.0
Opponent Points Per Game	10.0	41.0
Division Standing	1st, AFC West	4th, AFC South

Kenneth Walker III’s early workload and Mahomes’ clean recovery from his knee injury are the two biggest storylines driving Kansas City’s fast start. For Indianapolis, Daniel Jones is back and productive, but the defense – missing pieces from last year’s aggressive trade-deadline additions – has allowed 41 and 33 points in the first two weeks.

Coaching Matchup: Reid vs. Steichen

These two have coached against each other before, most memorably in that 2025 overtime classic, and Sunday’s result extended Reid’s edge. Reid, at 14 seasons in Kansas City, is working to prove that 2025 was an aberration rather than the start of a decline. Steichen, entering his fourth year and coming off a season that started at 8-2 and ended at 8-9, is trying to prove the opposite – that last year’s collapse doesn’t define this Colts roster.

Factor	Kansas City (Reid)	Indianapolis (Steichen)
Experience level	14th season, 3x Super Bowl champion	4th season, 25-26 overall record
Offensive identity	Mahomes-Walker balance	Jones-Taylor, still finding footing after injuries
Program status	Rebuilding off a down year	Trying to avoid a second straight collapse
Head-to-head vs. this opponent	2 straight wins, both OT	Has yet to beat Reid’s Chiefs

Betting Angle: What the Odds Said

Kansas City opened as a modest home favorite, with lines hovering around -6.5 on the spread and roughly -282 on the moneyline, with the total set at 46.5. That number turned out almost dead-on – the two teams combined for 63 points, and the spread nearly covered before the Colts forced overtime. It was a fitting result for a series that keeps refusing to be decided by more than a field goal.

Where to Watch NFL Games (Chiefs vs Colts Included)

• National broadcast: FOX has today’s game at 1:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. PT
• Streaming: FOX One carries it live; NFL+ and NFL Sunday Ticket cover the out-of-market crowd
• Location: Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee
• Philadelphia’s local coverage: The usual Philadelphia FOX affiliate handles road games like this
• Tennessee’s local coverage: WGFX 104.5 FM “The Zone” for Titans radio broadcasts

Given the rarity of these matchups, this probably isn’t a game you’ll see again for a while – regular-season crossovers between these two are few and far between.

What’s Next for Both Teams

Kansas City heads to Miami next, looking to build on a 2-0 start and show that last season’s collapse really was the outlier rather than the new normal. With Mahomes healthy and Walker adding a dimension the offense lacked, there’s real optimism building back at Arrowhead.

Indianapolis, at 0-2, faces a suddenly urgent home matchup with Houston. Another loss would mark consecutive rocky starts for a team that has now blown a fourth-quarter lead to the Chiefs in overtime in back-to-back seasons. Jones and Taylor are talented enough to turn this around, but the margin for error is shrinking fast for a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2020.

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Source: Fox Sports