Chiefs at Colts
THE STORY: Almost a year ago to the day, the Indianapolis Colts eked out a 10-point win over the visiting Kansas City Chiefs to give both teams 3-2 records en route to winning division titles. When the Colts host the Chiefs on Sunday, it’s a good bet that no one on either team could have expected things to unravel as much as they have in the past 364 days. With four-time MVP Peyton Manning sidelined with a neck injury, the Colts have skidded to an 0-4 start. Kansas City avoided making Sunday’s game a matchup of 0-4 teams by outlasting winless Minnesota last week.
TV: FOX, 1 p.m. ET. Line: Colts -2.5, O/U 39
ABOUT THE CHIEFS (1-3): Kansas City finally got in the win column with a 22-17 victory over the Vikings. Matt Cassel threw a 52-yard scoring pass to Dwayne Bowe and Ryan Succop tied a franchise record with five field goals for the Chiefs, who had been stomped in their first two games by a combined 89-10 score. The Week 1 injury to RB Jamaal Charles has derailed the rushing game of Kansas City, which led the league in 2010 with 164.2 yards per game.
ABOUT THE COLTS (0-4): Indianapolis had its second straight close call before coming up short at Tampa Bay 24-17 on Monday night, a loss that dropped them to 0-4 for the first time since Manning’s rookie season in 1998. Making his first career start, QB Curtis Painter threw two long TD passes to Pierre Garcon, but overall he completed only 13 of 30 passes. He is expected to start again with Kerry Collins dealing with concussion-related symptoms. Colts haven’t started 0-5 since 1997.
EXTRA POINTS:
1. The Colts have won nine of their last 10 meetings (playoffs included) with the Chiefs. Kansas City has scored a total of 27 points in its last three visits to Indy.
2. Painter became the first quarterback since October 1994 (Jeff Blake, Cincinnati) to throw two touchdowns of more than 50 yards in his first career start.
3. Bowe has 17 TD receptions since the start of the 2010 season. The only player with more is Detroit’s Calvin Johnson (20).