I dread any time the Chiefs have to go to Indianapolis. The Colts do indeed have the stadium from hell, they really do. Obviously we lost that playoff game in January of 2014 in part because of the inordinate number of injuries we suffered throughout in this hellhole.
Today our special teams had to endure all the ridiculous conditions related to this stadium.
For one thing the footing is wretched. A number of times I watched our runners, in whatever situation, special teams or not, trying to get going but unable to really get their footing.
Then there is the lighting. The way the windows are configured it allowed for weird volumes and angles of light to stream in messing with our receivers. There was one play when Kelce had a pass right in his hands in the end zone, except for the blinding light. He dropped it. We had to try for a field goal, and our injury replacement kicker missed it.
Earlier our punt returner dropped a ball when he had to look up into the glaring light coming through the roof window. And then there was the fake field goal that should've been good for the surprise 1st down, but sure enough our punter barely misfired on the pass to the receiver and yep, there was the blinding light in the eyes of that guy.
Finally, something about this field just seems to make it more likely players will suffer injuries. In this game there were two key guys for the Colts who suffered the worst of it, their good linebacker and a good D-back. I don't even know what this stadium does to other Colts players, but I did see they were missing some people they could have had out there.
Then there's just the evil stupidness that killed us. Just the general all-around stupidness that can so easily afflict this team. Late in the game we had the Colts dead-to-rights after a huge sack, setting up 4th down and a mile, and then they got Chris Jones for saying something mean to the Colts QB. Unsportsmanlike. 1st down and new life for the Colts. They marched on down the field for the game-winning score.
And then, sure enough, there was the animosity between Mahomes and OC Eric Bieniemy. We had time on the game clock at the end of the first half to try to at least get down to get a field goal, and we just kind of half-way matriculated the ball down the field instead of really making something happen. Mahomes blew up at Bieniemy.
I'm sorry, but I'm sick and tired of people not recognizing this situation. I can't say it won't have an impact on the spiritual and emotional constitution of this team as it moves forward. This cannot just be blamed on this horrific Indianapolis playing field situation. I really think it impacted Mahomes' overall play. Today he really looked off, not making the passes he should, not getting his throws on target -- his worst was the last one that got tipped and picked to keep us from getting a game-tying field goal.
It was clear in this game that the Chiefs were far better overall than the Colts. But the stadium and its evil stupidness, a whole bunch of crazy-ass unlucky things happening to us and crazy-ass lucky things that happened for them, and the very uncharacteristic poor play from our special teams did us in.
The best thing is we've got our loss out of the way. Now we can concentrate on learning from this, making sure we keep our heads in the game so we don't do stunningly ding-dong things like Chris Jones did, and probably the most important thing...
We're leaving this Lucas Oil Stadium hellscape behind and hope we never have to play another game there.
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