INDIANAPOLIS _ Maybe it's the hard playing surface at Lucas Oil Stadium. Maybe it's the Indianapolis Colts, who always seem to be in position to deliver a big blow to a sliding Chief on any given play. Or maybe it's just dumb, stupid, plain-old back luck.
Whatever it is, the Chiefs simply cannot play a normal game in Indianapolis. They cannot avoid injuries _ specifically concussions _ and they cannot avoid this weird confluence of big, momentum-turning plays.
But on Sunday, the Chiefs _ the same team that allowed those weird confluence of events to strangle them in a devastating wild-card loss to the Colts on the very same field three years ago _ were mentally tough enough to survive, as they managed to hold off the Colts 30-14 to improve to 5-2.
They did it despite their starting quarterback (Alex Smith) and running back (Spencer Ware) to concussions, and their starting left guard (Parker Ehinger) leaving with a knee injury.
They did it despite the signs of a repeat '14 wild-card performance being eerily present early. That's when, on the Chiefs' ninth offensive play, Smith scrambled and slid to his right. He was met by Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson, who hit him so hard his head slammed off the turf.
Smith wobbled to his feet and was removed from the game to be evaluated for a concussion. The Chiefs said he passed protocol and he eventually returned to the game. But that hit occurred approximately 10 yards away from the very same spot that star running back Jamaal Charles was hit (and subsequently removed from the game with a concussion) on the Chiefs' opening drive of their wild-card loss.
Dead serious.
So when the Chiefs made a field goal to take a 3-0 lead and added to it when Smith's replacement _ Nick Foles _ fired a 14-yard strike to tight end Travis Kelce (seven catches, 101 yards), no one was feeling comfortable. And when the Colts, 3-5, cut that lead to 10-7 thanks to an Andrew Luck touchdown pass to Frank Gore, the Colts were back in business.
But an Indianapolis mistake _ and a big play by cornerback Phillip Gaines _ helped the Chiefs create some distance before halftime when Luck was intercepted in his own territory by Gaines, who jumped a short route. The Chiefs got the ball back, and a few plays later, Smith _ who had re-entered the game by that point _ fired a gorgeous 13-yard fade to receiver Jeremy Maclin for a touchdown that put the Chiefs ahead 17-7 at halftime.
But even still, the Chiefs still battled shades of 2014. Shortly after halftime, the team announced that Ware would not return to the game to due the concussion. And on their second offensive play of the third quarter, Ehinger was lost for the game with a knee injury when he got rolled up on.
And two plays after that, the Chiefs would finally lose their quarterback, as Smith, who was curiously sent on a read-option run, had his head slammed to the turf by Colts safety Clayton Geathers, who used his left arm to strike Smith's head. Smith lay on the ground for several seconds before he walked off under his own power, but he was declared out for the rest of the game with a concussion.
In a bit of interesting irony _ not that there was any shortage of that on this day, as the Chiefs lost at least five key starters in the wild-card loss due to injury _ Geathers is a cousin of former Cincinnati defensive end Robert Geathers, whose late hit concussed Trent Green in 2006.
The Chiefs bounced back quickly, though, as Foles _ who finished 16 of 22 for 223 yards and two touchdowns _ again arrived to save the day. A few plays later, he spotted Tyreek Hill running wide open _ the Colts blew the two-deep coverage _ and hit him down the left sideline for a 34-yard touchdown that put the Chiefs ahead 24-7 midway through the third.
But the Colts, true to form, would not stay down long. Luck, who finished 19 of 35 for 210 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, powered a 10-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 3-yard touchdown pass to receiver Donte Moncrief.
That cut the Chiefs' lead to 10, and it would stay that way after Foles' 37-yard strike to Kelce on the next drive, which would have given the Chiefs the ball at the Colts' 1-yard line, was reversed.
The Chiefs ended up punting, and the Colts _ who lost several players due to injury due the course of the game, including two (Vontae Davis and Joe Reitz) to concussions _ did, too.
The Chiefs managed to put together another scoring drive, which was set up by a dynamic 28-yard return by Hill.
After starting at midfield, the Chiefs marched 46 yards in 10 plays before the drive, which was marked by a Foles overthrow to a wide-open Charcandrick West that was reminiscent to a Smith overthrow to a wide-open Cyrus Gray late in the wild-card loss, was snuffed out at the Colts' 4.
But kicker Cairo Santos, who missed a 28-yard field goal earlier in the game when holder Dustin Colquitt didn't get the laces around, redeemed himself with a 22-yard field goal that put the Chiefs ahead by 13 with eight minutes left.
And after another Colts' three-and-out, Santos again stepped up, connecting on a 44-yard field goal to put the Chiefs ahead 30-14 with 3 minutes, 35 seconds left.
The game was basically over, but nothing is ever easy for the Chiefs in this place, so it was hard not to chuckle a bit when Luck found Moncrief for a 45-yard touchdown with a little under two minutes left.
But in a fitting bit of symmetry, the Chiefs _ who finally prevailed on a field that is basically the football equivalent of an old, ancient burial ground _got a break, as the touchdown was nullified due to a holding call.
It was the final break they needed to bury the Colts _ and ultimately, past heartbreak as well.
