Now that wild card weekend has wrapped up, we look ahead to the Divisional Playoffs starting on Saturday. Here then, are three memories from the second round of the Playoffs.
Indianapolis Colts vs
Kansas City Chiefs
Arrowhead Stadium,
Kansas City, MO
Weather: 14 °F (−10
°C), clear
The Kansas City Chiefs, winners
of the AFC West Division, had the best record in all of football at 13-3 during
the 1995 regular season. Under head coach, Marty Schottenheimer, they had
finished with more wins than losses for seven consecutive seasons and had made
the playoffs in six straight. But to this point, they had only mild playoff
success. The closest they got to the Super Bowl was in 1993 when, under
quarterback Joe Montana who had joined the team when the San Francisco 49ers
decided to go with Steve Young, they made the AFC Championship game but got
pummelled by the Buffalo Bills.
With Montana now retired, the
Chiefs were led at quarterback by Steve Bono, another former 49er. Bono had a
respectable season, passing for over 3100 yards and 21 TDs. Marcus Allen was
the team’s leading rusher with 890 yards and five touchdowns and the defense
was led by defensive end Neil Smith (12 sacks) and linebacker Derrick Thomas (8
sacks).
The Colts were the complete
opposite of the Chiefs. They had stumbled into the playoffs with a 9-7 record
and held one of the wild card spots. The Colts had not made the playoffs since
1987 and there were some pretty horrible seasons in the between (1-15 in 1991
and 4-12 in 1993). Former Bears’ quarterback, Jim Harbaugh, was in his second
year with the Colts and passed for a modest 2575 yards and 17 touchdowns. But
more, importantly, Harbaugh brought leadership to Indianapolis.
The game between the Colts and
Chiefs was played on a cold and brisk late Sunday afternoon in Kansas City. The
Chiefs were heavily favoured as the Colts would be without star running back,
Marshall Faulk, due to an injury. After the teams traded punts throughout the
first quarter, Bono finally led the Chiefs on a scoring drive and hit receiver
Lake Dawson with a 20-yard pass to put Kansas City up 7-0 with 29 seconds left
in the quarter.
Indianapolis took possession
after the touchdown and put together a long, methodical, 18-play drive that
included five third down conversions as well as one fourth down conversion. The
drive ended on a Harbaugh five-yard touchdown pass to Floyd Turner and the game
was tied at seven. Both kickers then each missed a field-goal and the first
half ended at 7-7.
After Bono threw an interception
in the third quarter, the Colts moved into field goal position and this time
their kicker, Cary Blanchard, connected on a 30-yard field goal to put the
Colts up 10-7. The Colts defense, and the cold weather, continued to stifle the
Kansas City offense, but early in the fourth quarter, they moved the ball down
the field and into field goal range and a chance to tie the score. But Chiefs kicker,
Lin Elliott, missed his second attempt, this time from 39 yards away.
The defenses from both teams
held tight as the Colts failed to gain a first down on their next two possessions,
and Bono threw two more interceptions when the Chiefs had the ball. A 49-yard
field goal attempt from Blanchard could have increased the Indianapolis lead to
six, but it was missed. With time running out, the Chiefs had one last chance
to tie, or even win the game.
After struggling throughout the
game, with three interceptions, Bono was replaced by backup quarterback, Rich
Gannon, who led the Chiefs on a long drive that started on their own 18-yard
line. The drive stalled at the 25 and Elliott had yet another opportunity to hit a
field goal, this one from 42 yards away that would have sent the game into
overtime. But Elliott missed again and the Colts ran out the remaining seconds
on the clock and had pulled off the biggest upset in team history. Their 10-7
win, while not winning any style points, was a tough and gritty performance
that defined the 1995 Colts and the career of their quarterback, Jim Harbaugh.
The Colts would fall short in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh the
following weekend, when a last-second Hail Mary pass fell incomplete in the
Steelers’ end zone.
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