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It was third-and-7 approaching the midpoint of overtime, which made it do or die for the Kansas City Chiefs, who entered Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts in must-win mode after losing at Buffalo and at Denver on either side of a Week 10 bye.
Patrick Mahomes needed time for the routes from the three-receiver stack to the right of the formation to develop.
When speedy second-year receiver Xavier Worthy flashed open deep down the left seam, Mahomes fired the pass, but it was behind Worthy, who flipped around for a 30-yard catch that powered Kansas City into field-goal range for the game-winning kick in overtime.
“He’s not in perfect shape, right, as far as the shoulder, the ankle and then the foot — all that different type of stuff,” Mahomes said. “But he’s a competitor. He’s someone that wants to be on that football field, so he’s going to do whatever he can to make plays happen in the biggest moments. We called his number there at the end, and he made the play happen.”
The Chiefs trailed at the half for the third time this season, but rallied from the 14-9 hole — their first halftime comeback win of the season — with 11 fourth-quarter points en route to a season-saving 23-20 victory.
“I wouldn’t say anything necessarily specifically clicked,” said wide receiver Rashee Rice, who finished with eight catches for a career-high 141 yards. “We just had to dial in and focus on the small details.”
Harrison Butker’s 27-yard field goal with 1:56 left in OT moved Kansas City to 6-5 on the season with a Thanksgiving afternoon showdown at the Dallas Cowboys awaiting on a short week.
“We needed a win like this,” Mahomes said. “Now, [we’ll] just try to build off it.”
Butker had five field goals — which is tied for the second-most in his career, a feat he’s achieved six times in his career now — in the win.
Despite losing the turnover battle 2-0, the Chiefs outgained the Colts 413-248 and dominated time of possession with 36:39, including overtime.
MAHOMES REACHES ANOTHER MILESTONE
Mahomes finished 29 of 46 for a season-high 352 yards, the most he’s had in a game since throwing for 424 on Oct. 22, 2023, against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Pat was on fire,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
Rice, who also caught a two-point conversion, was Mahomes' top target, but Worthy, who had four catches for 59 yards, and Travis Kelce, who caught four balls for 43 yards, also had big contributions.
With the performance, he’s already thrown for 35,329 yards in nine seasons, including eight as a starter.
New record just dropped. Congrats, QB1! 👏 pic.twitter.com/9YFZ7i5CgU
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 23, 2025
He became the fastest player in the NFL to reach the 35,000-yard milestone, reaching it in his 123rd career game, which is three games faster than the previous record-holder, Matt Stafford (126).
Matt Ryan (132), Dan Marino (133) and the three players tied at 134 games — Peyton Manning, Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff — round out the top five.
Mahomes also helped Kansas City's cause with his legs, scrambling four times for 30 yards.
RED-ZONE WOES
Entering the game, the Chiefs ranked sixth in the NFL, converting nearly two of every three red-zone trips into touchdowns.
The Indianapolis defense, which entered Week 12 ranked 25th in preventing touchdowns in the red zone (62.9%), got the better of Kansas City on both red-zone trips in the first half.
Trailing 20-9 early in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs reached the red zone again before a Kareem Hunt fumble erased any scoring chance.
Meanwhile, the Colts only converted half of their four red-zone trips into touchdowns, but came away with two touchdowns and 20 total points in building a 20-9 fourth-quarter lead.
Kansas City finished 1 for 6 on red-zone drives in regulation, including overtime, with four short Butker field goals and that rare Hunt fumble.
HUNT REBOUNDS FROM RARE FUMBLE
Hunt — who finished with a career-high 30 carries for 104 yards, becoming the first 100-yard rusher since he had 106 against Tampa Bay last season — famously fumbled on the first snap of his NFL career.
During a four-year college career at Toledo, Hunt never lost a fumble in 855 touches, but his streak ended immediately as a pro.
He had 1,592 touches on offense since coughing up the football in the season opener on Sept. 7, 2017, at New England before an early fourth-quarter carry Sunday against the Colts.
"That's impressive; that's really impressive," center Creed Humphrey said. "He's a helluva back. When he's going like that, it's awesome to see."
As Hunt, who had five other NFL fumbles that were all recovered by the offense, somersaulted over a defender, linebacker Zaire Franklin punched the ball free, and former Chiefs cornerback Charvarius Ward recovered the ball at the 6-yard line.
Hunt — who now owns 11 career 100-yard games, including 10 with the Chiefs — atoned on the next drive, taking flight for a 2-yard touchdown.
“Kareem was dusted off and got over 100 yards, which was incredible,” Reid said. “I’m proud of him for that.”
He even added three catches for 26 receiving yards.
“He dominated today,” Rice said. “I’m really proud of that guy. I look forward to seeing a lot more of that out of him. ... It was good to see him get over that fumble toward the end of the game and come out and finish as strong as he could.”
Kansas City drew within 20-17 after Hunt's TD when Mahomes found Rice in the back of the end zone with a frozen rope for a two-point conversion.
MILESTONE TRIO
With Mahomes throwing for 352 yards, including 141 to Rice, and Hunt topping the century mark as well, Sunday marked the first time since Oct. 7, 2024, that the Chiefs had a 300-yard passer, 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game.
That night, Mahomes threw for 331 yards, including 130 yards to JuJu Smith-Schuster, while Hunt added 102 yards in the 26-13 win against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football last season.
It had only happened one other time in the Mahomes era — a 30-27 win in November 2022 at the Los Angeles Chargers when Mahomes threw for 329 yards, including 115 yards to Travis Kelce, while Isiah Pacheco ran for 107 yards.
Of course, Hunt's big game against the Colts was perhaps the biggest surprise of the bunch.
“I didn’t know it was 30 (carries), but he’s a warrior, man,” Mahomes said. “He truly is. I’ve known that since the day I met him. I thought it was awesome to see how he responded over and over again.”
OFFENSE WASTES EARLY OPPORTUNITIES
The penalty-prone Colts — who were flagged for three penalties on the seven-play, game-opening drive — won the toss and took the ball to start the game.
It seemed like an ideal start for the Chiefs, even if the drive started at the 4-yard line after a special-teams penalty, until defensive end Laiatu Latu tipped Mahomes’ first pass into the air and intercepted it.
Two plays later, Daniel Jones fired a 6-yard strike to Michael Pittman at the goal line as Indianapolis grabbed an early lead anyway.
After throwing only two interceptions in Kansas City’s first seven games, Travis Kelce’s tipped ball at the goal line against Philadelphia and Devin Lloyd’s 99-yard interception return at Jacksonville, Mahomes has been picked off in four straight games.
He threw a pair of interceptions against Washington and was intercepted once in losses at Buffalo and Denver.
The Chiefs got rolling on the second drive and appeared to have tied the game when Kelce scored on a 4-yard direct snap, but the touchdown was overturned when right tackle Jawaan Taylor was flagged for a rare offensive facemask.
Kansas City settled for a 28-yard Harrison Butker field goal early in the second quarter to cap a 17-play, 64-yard drive that lasted 8:20.
Indianapolis led 7-3 but took firm control with a 75-yard touchdown drive.
Ashton Dulin’s 48-yard catch and run set up Jones’ 4-yard touchdown to tight end Drew Ogletree in the back of the end zone.
The Chiefs managed two more Butker field goals — from 48 and 22 yards — on their last two drives of the second half, pulling within 14-9 at halftime.
CONTAINING TAYLOR
While Hunt thrived with Isiah Pacheco sidelined for a third consecutive game, Jonathan Taylor only had seven carries for 22 yards in the first half, a hopeful stat for Chiefs Kingdom.
But Daniel Jones, gimpy ankle and all, carved up Kansas City, going 10 of 12 for 94 yards with touchdowns in the first half.
The Chiefs failed to sack Jones and registered only one quarterback hurry, credited to George Karlaftis, in the opening half.
Curiously, the Colts made almost no effort to establish Taylor in the second half.
He had a 27-yard run on third-and-short early in the third quarter, but Indy never handed him the ball on the final eight plays of regulation, which included three straight three-and-outs as Kansas City rallied to force overtime.
Taylor had two carries for 3 yards on the opening drive in overtime, finishing with 16 carries for 58 yards, while Jones finished 19 of 31 for 181 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers. He also scrambled for 16 yards on three carries.
During the Colts’ first 10 games, Taylor averaged nearly 19 carries and 114 yards rushing per game with an NFL-best 17 touchdowns, but the Chiefs kept him under wraps.
THREE CHIEFS INJURED IN WIN
Starting right guard Trey Smith (ankle), cornerback Chris Roland-Wallace (lower back) and tight end Noah Gray (concussion) left the game with injuries.
With Kansas City playing next on a short week, traveling to Dallas on Thursday for a Thanksgiving showdown between "America's Team" (the Cowboys) and "America's New Ratings Darlings" (the Chiefs), it may be difficult for the trio to get healthy in time for Week 13.
Kansas City returns home Dec. 7 for a Week 14 matchup against the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football, a game that can be seen on KSHB 41 News.
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