Which division winner should Colts want to see in the Wild Card round?

Kansas City could be vulnerable if they can't fix their problems before the playoffs start

It sounds strange to say but AFC West frontrunner — and defending Super Bowl champion — Kansas City is clearly a more digestible opponent compared to Baltimore or Miami. The Chiefs started the season 6-1 but have gone 3-4 since Week 8. Their schedule hasn’t been easy but a pair of losses to Denver and Green Bay prove that Kansas City can be beaten by non-elite teams.

The Chiefs' defense — allowing just 17.5 points per game this year — is rock-solid and would cause the Colts a lot of trouble, but that's not necessarily a dealbreaker. Indianapolis has played six top-15 scoring defenses so far this season and has averaged 29.2 points against them. The Colts can definitely find ways to score against even the toughest defenses.

In a shocking twist, Kansas City’s offense has been the pain point. The Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs have historically been able to march down the field and score at will, but that hasn’t been the case in 2023. A mediocre rushing attack coupled with an error-prone passing game has made the Chiefs far less productive than in previous campaigns. Last year, Kansas City had the league's No. 1 scoring offense. This season, the Chiefs are down to No. 10 and have already failed to score at least 20 points on six different occasions (for reference, Indianapolis has only fallen short of that mark twice all year).

Of course, there’s every possibility that Mahomes, Andy Reid, and the Chiefs fix their issues before the postseason but, as of now, Kansas City is vulnerable enough to be an enticing opponent for the Colts.