Patrick Mahomes did not want to give his critics any ammunition Sunday as his Kansas City Chiefs survived a scare against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Chiefs needed overtime to beat the Colts 33-30 in front of their home fans at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The victory would have happened earlier than it did had the referees not overturned a controversial call on the Colts’ first offensive play in overtime.
The Chiefs scored first in OT, taking a 30-27 lead on a field goal. Colts quarterback Daniel Jones answered with a deep pass to Laquon Treadwell, getting Indianapolis into the red zone. Treadwell lost possession while trying to gain more yardage. Referees initially ruled the play a fumble but later overturned the call, deeming Treadwell down before the turnover (video here).
The Chiefs still held on to win 33-30 as their defense prevented the Colts from scoring a go-ahead touchdown.
Mahomes told reporters after the game that he was happy the call went against the Chiefs, anticipating that many fans would have cried foul had the game ended on the would-be fumble.
“We had the big play in overtime where we think we stripped the ball,” Mahomes said. “I was actually kinda glad, I didn’t want to see Twitter’s reaction if they would’ve called it a fumble.”
Mahomes hears the ref talk 🗣️
— SleeperChiefs (@SleeperChiefsKC) September 21, 2026
“We had the big play in overtime where we think we stripped the ball—I was actually kinda glad, I didn’t want to see twitters reaction if they would’ve called it a fumble.” pic.twitter.com/TR1dJfumcC
It’s easier for Mahomes to make such a claim in hindsight. He probably would have felt differently had the Colts parlayed the favorable ruling into a walk-off TD in OT.
Instead, the Chiefs’ defense held firm, stuffing back-to-back runs for negative yardage before forcing Jones to scramble well short of the sticks on third down. The Colts settled for a field goal to tie the game at 30-30. The Chiefs answered with the game-ending field goal.
Mahomes finished with 382 passing yards and 3 touchdowns on a 32/47 clip.
