Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen explains decision to take ball first in overtime

Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen explained his controversial late game decision to take possession of the football first in overtime offensively after the Kansas City Chiefs tied it up 20-20 at the end of regulation (via 1075 The Fan’s Kevin Bowen):

To be fair too, there is at least some debate on whether the better school of thought is take possession first offensively or defer respectively.

With the NFL’s current overtimes rule, with an additional 10 minutes of extended regulation, each team has the opportunity to have possession of the football offensively (unless there’s a safety or pick six), regardless of whether the team who has possession first offensively scores a touchdown.

For the Colts, and in Steichen’s eyes, it meant that they didn’t have the pressure of the scoreboard to maintain and could theoretically get a 2nd offensive possession—should they fail to score and subsequently stop the Chiefs.

It’s also fair to point out that with the Colts offense having three straight 3 and outs heading into overtime, that the Indy defense was presumably gassed and could use a bit of a breather—having been on the field a long time.

On the flip side, the Chiefs knew exactly what they needed to score, between a touchdown or field goal, and also had the luxury of potentially utilizing an extra down (4th down) to do it, if needed, on each set of downs.

In the end, the Colts stalled offense had a 4th straight three and out, and the Indianapolis defense, which had bent afternoon, finally broke after Patrick Mahomes connected with speedy wideout Xavier Worthy on a 31-yard pass completion on 3rd and 7 in overtime, to put the Chiefs just in the outskirts of field goal territory at the Indianapolis 45-yard line. A few players later, Harrison Butker would convert a game-winning 27-yard field goal.