It wasn't supposed to start like this. It wasn't supposed to end like this either.
Nothing about the opening of the 2014 NFL playoffs in Indianapolis resembled normalcy. But here we are now, trying to make sense of how we arrived at a 45-44 Indianapolis Colts win over the Kansas City Chiefs after the latter led 38-10 at one point. The Colts' 28 point comeback is the second highest mountain climbed in NFL post-season history.
In chart fancy stat form, here's what that deficit looked like...
— SB Nation (@sbnation) January 5, 2014
But to get a truly staggering feel for how much this game didn't feel like a game at all in the first half, let's dabble in some numbers.
Only one of Alex Smith's 508 regular-season passes ended in a completion of more than 60 yards, and tonight he had two on his first 12 attempts. He threw three of his four touchdown passes in the first half, and throughout the season Smith had six games when he didn't throw any, and only three games when he threw more than two. Oh, and he threw 217 of his 378 total yards in the opening two quarters. Smith's season per game passing average? 220.9 yards.
Smith's first-half brilliance included a 63-yard pass to Dwayne Bowe, and Bowe had 63 or more yards in a game just three times this year. That all led to 327 yards of Chiefs offense in the first half and those 31 points, which was difficult to compute when compared to their season per game averages (337.2 yards of offense, and 26.9 points).
And it becomes even more difficult to understand following Jamaal Charles' early first-quarter concussion. The Chiefs then played without a running back who accounted for 37 percent of their offense this season, and 46 percent of their touchdowns.
But then Donne Avery went down. Then Brandon Flowers, and Knile Davis, and Justin Houston. That left Smith without the support of his top two running backs and his No. 2 receiver who had caught a 79-yard touchdown pass, and a defense anchored by a ferocious pass rush with one member of its outside linebacker tandem gone, and the other (Tamba Hali) already hobbled.
Most importantly, T.Y. Hilton then dummied Dunta Robinson after Flowers left, setting a Colts post-season record with 224 receiving yards (half of Luck's 443 passing yards), 64 of which came on one of his two touchdown catches, the eventual game winner. Hilton also now sits third all-time in single-game playoff receiving yards.
Injuries initiated the Chiefs' crumbling, but opportunities to halt it were aplenty. Luck threw four interceptions, and he had thrown only nine all season, and just one over his last 152 attempts prior to tonight. As a whole a Colts offense that had the fewest turnovers in the league (just 14) handed over five freebies.
Yet still, there was that same offense with five second-half touchdowns, outscoring Kansas City 35-13 in said half, and concluding with that deep dagger to Hilton. Thus ended a game that had 89 combined points, 11 touchdowns, and 1,049 yards.
Not a bad start to the post-season, yes?