Wild Card, 2013: Indianapolis 45 Kansas City 44

Game information
Trailing 38–10 a few minutes into the third quarter, Indianapolis scored 35 second half points to overcome a 28-point deficit to win, 45–44, in the second biggest comeback victory in NFL postseason history, behind just the Buffalo Bills' 32-point deficit in their 41–38 comeback Wild Card game win against the Houston Oilers in 1992. For Kansas City, the loss extended their playoff win drought to 20 years.

The game got off to a rough start for the Chiefs, as starting running back Jamaal Charles was knocked out of the game on the opening drive. But before this, he rushed three times for 18 yards as the team drove 84 yards in 14 plays. Quarterback Alex Smith added a 16-yard run, and converted the drive's only third down with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe. Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck quickly led his team back, completing seven consecutive passes for 74 yards. Four of them went to T. Y. Hilton, including a 24-yarder and a 10-yard touchdown catch to tie the game at 7. On the next possession, Smith completed a 68-yard pass to Bowe at the Colts 2-yard line. But the team could not get into the end zone with their next three plays and had to settle for Ryan Succop's 19-yard field goal to take a 10–7 lead. Then after a Colts three-and-out, Smith launched a 79-yard touchdown bomb to Donnie Avery, increasing the Chiefs lead to 17–7 21 seconds into the second quarter.

The situation continued to deteriorate for Indianapolis. On the first play of their next possession, Trent Richardson lost a fumble that linebacker Justin Houston recovered and returned seven yards to the Colts 17-yard line. Two plays later, Smith's 5-yard touchdown throw to fullback Anthony Sherman on a shovel pass made the score 24–7. This time the Colts managed to respond with a 61-yard scoring drive in which Luck completed a 16-yard pass to Griff Whalen and rushed for a 21-yard gain after faking a hand off up the middle on a fourth and 1 conversion. Adam Vinatieri finished the drive with a 37-yard field goal, cutting the score to 24–10. However, Smith also got to pass and rush, as he carried the ball four times for 24 yards and completed five passes for 33 on an 81-yard drive that ended with Knile Davis' 4-yard touchdown run, putting the Chiefs up 31–10. The Colts managed to reach midfield on their next possession, but Brandon Flowers intercepted a pass from Luck to keep them from scoring before halftime.

On the first play of the second half, Husain Abdullah intercepted Luck and returned the ball four yards to the Colts' 18-yard line, sitting up Smith's 10-yard scoring toss to Davis that put them up by 28, 38–10. It seemed that Kansas City was in complete control of the game, but Indianapolis suddenly stormed back with 14 unanswered points. First, Luck's 46-yard completion to reserve receiver Da'Rick Rogers moved the ball to the Chiefs' 10-yard line, and Donald Brown ran the ball into the end zone on the next play. Then linebacker Robert Mathis forced a fumble while sacking Smith, and fellow linebacker Kelvin Sheppard recovered for the Colts on the Chiefs' 41-yard line just before it rolled out of bounds. The offense then capitalized with Luck completing four out of five passes, the last a 3-yard scoring pass to Brown that cut the score to 38–24.

Following a Chiefs punt, Abdullah intercepted another pass from Luck. Kansas City took over on the Indianapolis 28-yard line, and scored on a 42-yard Succop field goal to give them a 17-point lead, 41–24, with just over five minutes left in the third quarter. But Luck quickly led the Colts back, completing a 25-yard pass to Brown on the first play of the next possession, and later hooking up with LaVon Brazill for a 35-yard gain before finishing it off with a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Coby Fleener. Then after a three-and-out, Kansas City punter Dustin Colquitt's 31-yard boot pinned Indianapolis back at their own 10-yard line. But it did not stop the Colts, as Luck completed five out of six passes for 61 yards and rushed for 12 on a 90-yard scoring drive. On the last play, Brown fumbled the ball while trying to run it into the end zone, but it bounced right back into the hands of Luck, who took it across the goal line himself for a touchdown. With this score, the lead was cut to 41–38 with 10:38 left in the game.

Aided by A. J. Jenkins' 27-yard reception, the Chiefs managed to run the clock down to 5:36 with their ensuing drive. Succop finished it off with a 43-yard field goal to put the team up by six points. But three plays after the kickoff, Luck fired a deep pass to Hilton over the middle, who caught it without breaking stride and took off for a 64-yard touchdown catch, giving Indy their first lead of the game at 45–44. With 4:21 left, Kansas City desperately tried to get in range for a go-ahead field goal. Smith started the drive with a pair of completions to Bowe for 38 yards. But after a 3-yard running play moved the ball to the Colts 39-yard line, Smith was flagged for a 10-yard intentional grounding penalty. The next play netted the team six yards, bringing up fourth down and 11. On the next play, Smith threw a deep pass to Bowe along the right sideline. Bowe made a leaping catch with enough yardage for a first down, but landed with only one foot in bounds, causing a turnover on downs and allowing Indianapolis to run out the rest of the clock.

For Kansas City, Smith finished the game 30-for-46 for 378 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 57 yards. His top receiver was Bowe, who caught eight passes for 150 yards and a touchdown. Davis rushed for 67 yards, caught seven passes for 33 yards, and scored two touchdowns. Abdullah had six tackles and two interceptions. For Indianapolis, Luck finished 29-for-45 for 443 yards and four touchdowns, with three interceptions. He also rushed for 45 yards and scored a fumble recovery touchdown. Hilton caught 13 passes for 224 yards – the third highest total in postseason history – and two touchdowns.

Both teams combined for 1,049 total yards (513 for Kansas City, 536 for Indianapolis), an NFL postseason record. This was the first wildcard playoff game ever to feature two former number one draft picks at quarterback; Smith in 2005 and Luck in 2012. This was the eighth consecutive playoff loss for Kansas City, an NFL record.

This was the fourth postseason meeting between the Colts and Chiefs. Indianapolis won all three prior meetings, including 23-8 in the 2006 AFC Wild Card playoffs.

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