If you’re still wondering how the Indianapolis Colts came back from a 28-point deficit to beat the Kansas City Chiefs, you’re not alone. There were many factors, but the biggest one to me was the Chiefs porous defense.  You can expect QB Alex Smith to only do so much and without their best player, Jamaal Charles who left the game early in the first quarter with a concussion, they were doomed.  The play calling on both sides for the Chiefs was suspect in the 2nd half.  Clock management was again a problem for an Andy Reid coached team and they seemed to never know where Colts WR T.Y. Hilton was at any point in the game.  With many injuries mounting during the game it seemed like a perfect storm was brewing for a big letdown by Kansas City.  With all the pundits piling on the Chiefs, you have to give all the credit to the Indianapolis Colts.  You can’t win a game without playing some good football.  It wasn’t perfect, but they didn’t think they couldn’t at least make it a close game at halftime.  The Colts have their rash of injuries too, but they know they can win no matter the circumstances and that should scare future opponents.

We were expecting a higher scoring affair, but we really weren’t surprised that the New Orleans Saints ended up winning.  The Eagles showed that they are a team that can make a run in near future, but this wasn’t going to be the year they do it.  They still have some holes to fill or improve, but they can be a contender. The New Orleans Saints still have a problem when it comes to their defense playing when they want to and with Drew Brees throwing inopportune interceptions.  That probably won’t be fixed anytime soon.  One thing that the Saints did improve upon was their ball control.  If they can keep the ball out of their opponents hands they have a better chance of success.  The Eagles offense didn’t have the ball enough of the time to make any dents.  New Orleans needs that to beat the Seattle Seahawks who haven’t been too kind to them in the past.

Once again the Cincinnati Bengals had an early exit in the Wild Card round for the third consecutive year.  They are starting to be what the San Diego Chargers once were when they had home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but would lose in the Divisional Round.  The Chargers were not going to let the Bengals play their game and in turn Andy Dalton was throwing the ball into the Chargers’ defenders hands.  I know Dalton is a better quarterback than he has shown in his three playoff starts.  It’s getting harder to say that after his worst performance by far in a playoff game.  The Bengals were playing at home and hadn’t lost at home all season long.  For some reason there was no balance to their offense and it became worse when rookie RB Giovani Bernard fumbled near the goal line.  That play changed the momentum for good.  The Chargers have been an upstart team once the calendar turned to December and they want that trend to continue.

There are many drives that define a quarterbacks career and the one that 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick was on to win the game in Green Bay might define his.  Like the Kansas City Chiefs did with the Colts and their wide receiver T.Y. Hilton being wide open for just about every catch, the Packers seemed to forget that Kaepernick could run the ball if he had to.  He did and it was the difference in the Niners winning the game.  We were pretty sure that the Packers would make every effort to not let Kaepernick beat them with either his arm or his legs, but it happened again.  Aaron Rodgers for the most part was kept in check, but he still had his team in a position to win the game.  The Packers unfortunately will have a lot of soul searching to do in the offseason and that might include finding a new defensive coordinator.  It’s not his fault that so many defensive players were out with injuries this year, including their best one in Clay Matthews Jr.  We’ll see the Packers competing for a playoff spot again, but they know they missed a big chance this year.