KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Inside Arrowhead Stadium, the scoreboards early in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game suggested the Kansas City Chiefs were in a dire situation against the Indianapolis Colts.
Although the Colts led by 11 points -- and were about to begin their drive after running back Kareem Hunt fumbled inside the red zone -- pass rusher Chris Jones, the Chiefs' best defender, lifted his right hand up several times to energize his teammates and the home crowd. Jones then disrupted the Colts' running play, leading to running back Jonathan Taylor to be tackled behind the line of scrimmage.
For two quarters -- including overtime -- Jones and the rest of his defensive teammates dominated the Colts offense, which allowed the Chiefs to exit Arrowhead with much-needed 23-20 comeback victory.
The primary reason the Chiefs won was their defense, led by Jones and longtime coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, forced the Colts into four consecutive three-and-outs.
"For me, it was just about keeping the fans in tune, giving them momentum, making it loud and creating chaos," Jones said of rallying his teammates. "Also, it energizes the defense. Energy is contagious, so you've got to continue to promote it."
Entering Sunday, the Colts lead the NFL with 32.1 points per game behind strong performances from Taylor, an MVP candidate, and quarterback Daniel Jones. Despite building their 20-9 lead, the Colts didn't gain a first down in the fourth quarter or overtime.
"The defense stood tall multiple times to give us chances," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. "You could feel that momentum kind of swing in our favor. I thought that really did change the outcome of the game."
Taylor, the league's leading rusher, struggled against the Chiefs' front seven, as many defenders often swarmed him after initial contact. Even though the Colts never trailed in regulation, Taylor finished with just 58 rushing yards. He created just three missed tackles and generated a season-low 10 yards after forcing a missed tackle, according to Next Gen Stats. Entering Sunday, Taylor had produced a league-high 67 missed tackles on rushing attempts.
The Chiefs also hit Taylor behind the line of scrimmage at a season-high rate of 62.5%.
"I kind of knew it was going to happen," Jones said of limiting Taylor. "If you look at the track record throughout the year [against] the running backs we've played, we had one runner [Buffalo Bills' James Cook] have [more than] 100 yards. We're committed to stopping the run and then we're able to get after the quarterback."
After halftime, the Colts instead relied mostly on Daniel Jones, giving Taylor just nine carries while calling passing plays on 69.0% of their snaps, their second-highest rate after the first half this season. The Chiefs countered in the fourth quarter and overtime with timely blitzes to pressure Jones, who completed just three of his nine attempts for 17 yards.
"There's always a notch of the intensity that goes up as the game goes on and just having emotion," said safety Bryan Cook, who recorded a pass breakup. "We were out there kind of flat [in the first three quarters] and we started showing emotions and started making plays. We [caught] fire at the right time."
The Colts began overtime with the ball, too, but Jones' penetration led to linebacker Drue Tranquill tackling Taylor for a 2-yard loss on a third-and-1 snap near midfield.
"Spags [does] a really, really good job of moving us around and getting me spaces to make players," Jones said of Spagnuolo. "For us, we executed at a high level."
The Chiefs offense performed its best following Hunt's fumble, too. Mahomes was excellent on critical downs, the offensive line did plenty for Hunt, who finished with a season-high 104 rushing yards, and receiver Rashee Rice exploded after halftime to generate a game-high 141 receiving yards.
Rice's biggest highlights occurred in the final drive of regulation. He caught an intermediate pass for a 47-yard gain and made a leaping catch on fourth-and-3 from the Colts' 43-yard line to set up the game-tying field goal from kicker Harrison Butker.
"This is exactly what we needed, to win against a really good team and the game is not going your way," Mahomes said. "You could've folded in that situation -- and kind of the rest of the season -- but guys responded.
"It was a do-or-die type of thing. Guys made plays happen."
The Chiefs (6-5) are still not in the AFC's playoff picture, but their chances to clinch a playoff spot improved to 59 percent, according to Next Gen Stats.
Mahomes said Sunday's comeback was an important step for the team. After all, the win over the Colts was the Chiefs' first victory in a one-score game this season after failing in the previous five such games. Sunday was also the first time the Chiefs overcame a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter since their dramatic win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
"This was big," Mahomes said. "We're kind of proving to ourselves that we can play this kind of game, where it's not always pretty. Now, we just have to build off of that momentum."