Chiefs Offense Sputters Against Colts In 19-9 Loss

The Kansas City Chiefs offense has played two types of games this year.

The ugly game: See San Diego Chargers in Week 1 and Cleveland Browns in Week 2.

The impressive game: See San Francisco 49ers in Week 3.

To this point they had three wins and zero losses so they were doing something right. On Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, the ugly offense showed up and they couldn't get it done.

The Colts beat the Chiefs, 19-9, at the Lucas Oil Dome in Indy on Sunday.

With the way the Chiefs defense played, it's clear that any blame passed around needs to start with the offense.

Here are the highlights (or lowlights) of the offensive day.

Going for it on fourth and two

On the Chiefs first possession, they drove inside the Colts 10 yard line and faced a fourth and two. Chiefs coach Todd Haley chose to go for it instead of getting the easy three points. I was OK with that move because, against an offense like the Colts, the Chiefs need touchdowns and not field goals. Unfortunately, the pass was incomplete to Dwayne Bowe.

Going for it on fourth and two was probably the best decision because the Chiefs wouldn't get a better opportunity to score a touchdown the rest of the game.

Jamaal Charles/Thomas Jones carry distribution

I suggested before the game that the Chiefs would give Charles more carries because playing in that dome against a fast team seemed to suit Charles' strengths more than Jones.

In the first half, Charles had 11 carries for 61 yards. Jones had three carries for 23 yards. The second half didn't go much better with Charles getting just five carries for 26 yards and Jones gaining -5 yards. Charles ended with 87 yards in 16 carries while Jone ended with 19 yards on eight carries.

The distribution of carries made sense to me but the Chiefs should have kept feeding Charles the ball in the second half.

The passing game just isn't very good

Matt Cassel completed 7-of-10 passes for 58 yards in the first half. The running game was working so I don't blame the Chiefs a whole lot for not passing much.

In the second half, Cassel was forced to pass more gaining 156 total yards completing 16-of-29 passes.

Either Cassel didn't go down the field or the Chiefs game plan limited him from going down the field. That's a clear sign that one or both sides don't think he's much of a down field passer.

In three of four games this season, Cassel has played pretty miserably.

Dwayne Bowe's drops

There was one drop in the second half that hurt the Chiefs.

Matt Cassel went deep to Bowe down the left side line. The Colts defender lost track of the ball and the ball landed right in Bowe's hand.

And then he dropped it.

It would have been a touchdown if he had caught it. To make matters worse, on the very next play Cassel went to Bowe again on a comeback route and he simply dropped it again.

Bad day for Dwayne Bowe.