The Indianapolis Colts clinched a playoff spot and the five seed in the AFC playoffs with a 20 - 13 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on another Andrew Luck game - winning drive , his seventh of the season .
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indianapolis colts clinch playoff spot seed afc playoff 20 13 win kansas city chiefs andrew luck game win drive his seventh season
The Indianapolis Colts clinched a playoff spot and the five seed in the AFC playoffs with a 20 - 13 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on another Andrew Luck game - winning <m> drive </m> , his seventh of the season .
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Colts Clinch Playoff Spot with 20 - 13 Win Over Chiefs
on Dec 23 2012 , 6 : 11p
The Indianapolis Colts clinched a playoff spot and the five seed in the AFC playoffs with a 20 - 13 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on another Andrew Luck game - winning <m> drive </m> , his seventh of the season .
A year ago , the Indianapolis Colts were an NFL - worst 2 - 14 and did not figure to be much better this season .
But fifteen games later and the Colts stand at 10 - 5 and in the playoffs as the AFC's five seed .
It is the representation of an incredible sesaon that will be extended beyond just next week .
The Colts got the win today , but it wasn't pretty .
In fact , according to Pro Football Reference , it was the first time in NFL history that a team rushed for over 350 yards and lost the game .
The Colts were outplayed on both sides of the ball , but when it counted Andrew Luck and the Colts got it done .
Check out some notes from the game :
Andrew Luck was terrible for a stretch in the game that included 10 straight incompletions .
But after that he got hot at just the right time and hit his last 6 passes of the day , capped off by a 7 - yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne in the back of the end zone for what proved to be the game winning score with four minutes left .
He ended the day 17 / 35 for 205 yards and the touchdown along with 6 carries for 21 yards .
For the second week in a row he did not turn the ball over , which is huge .
And he also set the NFL rookie record for most passing yards in a season with 4 , 051 yards - breaking Cam Newton's record set a year ago .
Dwayne Allen also set a Colts rookie record for receptions by a tight end with 43 .
Allen has had a tremendous rookie year .
He has a bright future ahead of him .
Cassius Vaughn and Pat Angerer both were terrible today .
There were others as well , but those two were the ones that really stuck out .
Basically , however , the whole defense stunk today .
The Colts gave up 507 total yards , 352 of them on the ground .
It was the worst run defense I have seen the Colts play since that now infamous debacle in Jacksonville in 2006 .
Simply must improve .
That said , the Colts won the turnover battle 3 - 0 over the Chiefs .
Darius Butler picked off a terrible Brady Quinn throw and took it back 32 yards for a score .
It was Butler's 4th pick of the year and the 2nd one he returned for a touchdown .
Pat Angerer also forced a big fumble with the Chiefs in the red zone and threatening that led to 3 points for the Colts before the half .
And then the 3rd turnover was a pick by Vontae Davis .
When you have a +3 turnover differential , you are going to win most games .
It will be huge if the Colts could keep that up .
The wide receivers really didn't help out Andrew Luck today .
They dropped several passes ( Reggie Wayne included ) and failed to get open numerous other times .
While it looked like a bad game from Luck , I place more of the blame on the receivers in this one .
Nothing was open .
However , on the final drive , once Reggie Wayne started getting involved , the Colts started rolling .
On the last drive he caught 3 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown .
Prior to that he had caught 2 passes for 44 .
The key was that once the Colts got Reggie involved , good things happened .
This game was Andrew Luck's 7th game - winning drive of the season , tying an NFL record - not just a rookie record .
Peyton Manning did it twice .
Incredibly , if Luck leads a game winning drive next week in a very winnable game for the Colts , he would have the NFL record all to himself - as a rookie .
Added to that fact is that the Colts are 8 - 1 in games decided by one score or less - the only loss coming in week 3 on that last - minute 80 yard touchdown pass by the Jaguars after Luck had led another go - ahead scoring drive late in the 4th quarter .
Chuck Pagano returns tomorrow .
What a moment that will be tomorrow when Pagano walks into the locker room and is handed the head coaching reigns once again .
And what a moment that will be next Sunday when he takes the field for the first time since week 3 .
Colts nation has supported him all the way , as has the NFL .
Next Sunday , the division rival Houston Texans come to Lucas Oil Stadium having never won in Indy .
This is a game that before the season I even thought the Colts would win - back when I thought they would get 7 wins all year .
They can beat the Texans , and with Pagano coming back , that will be a special game .
Great job , Bruce Arians .
Tremendous .
Now my piece of advice to the Colts - don't stop being Chuckstrong .
Pagano certainly won't .