Colts coach Shane Steichen says he should have gone for it on 4th down vs Chiefs

With 24 hours of reflection, Colts head coach Shane Steichen said Monday his decision not to go for 4th-and-4 in Chiefs territory with under five minutes to go, up three points 20-17 is a call he may like to have back.

Initially when asked about the less-than-aggressive call postgame – the Colts had attempted the fifth-most (21) fourth-down conversions entering Week 12 with the second-best conversion rate (81%) – Steichen explained the call as a hedge on his defense’s ability to stop Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes facing a long field. And yet, after starting on their own 3-yard-line, the Chiefs offense needed all of two plays to get past where the Colts would’ve handed Mahomes the ball with an unsuccessful fourth-down attempt.

“He sure (does that a lot),” Steichen said Monday, acknowledging Mahomes’ knack for explosive plays and navigating just about any length of field in late-game, come-from-behind scenarios during Kansas City’s run to five Super Bowl appearances in six seasons.

Steichen then pointed to the fact that the Colts defense had forced a three-and-out on its most recent drive and three punts and a forced fumble overall in the second half to just a single touchdown drive. Through nine Kansas City offensive drives at that point, the Lou Anarumo’s defense had forced more empty drives (5) than scores (4), despite the 51 plays the Chiefs had run on those scoring drives for 249 yards.

On the heels of two of the team’s five most explosive plays of the game – a 47-yard catch-and-run by Rashee Rice to put the Chiefs at midfield, and a 19-yarder to Rice on 4th-and-3 just short of the red zone and well within field goal range – the Chiefs ultimately pushed the game into overtime and the Colts would go on to lose 23-20.

“That was kinda a gut feeling there,” Steichen said. “I thought, ‘Shoot, let’s try to back them up, let ‘em go the long way instead of the short way if we don’t get it. And then they got it all the way down there, and we held them to a field goal. But yeah, you always look at those things. Should I have? Could’ve, would I have gone for it there?

“Yeah, possibly.”

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Shane Steichen on not going for it on fourth down vs Chiefs