NFL data can tell us a great deal these days, thanks to chip sensors in football pads and other Digital Age wonders.
There’s no metric, at least yet, that conveys the frustration level of a bright coach whose team suffers a big-game defeat like the one Shane Steichen’s Indianapolis Colts absorbed Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, 23-20, in overtime.
Lava-hot. That’s my metric, not yet patented, for Steichen’s frustration.
Steichen, 40, is a bona fide whiz-bang coach of offense who began his NFL career in San Diego under Norv Turner and reached a Super Bowl as a coordinator under ex-Chargers colleague Nick Sirianni.
His Colts offense had NFL-best totals in points, first downs, rushing yards per try and passing success rate entering Sunday.
It put 20 points on the Chiefs through three quarters.
By golly, to borrow from Steichen’s buddy Philip Rivers, the Colts were in good shape entering the fourth quarter.
Indy’s offense had the football, if near their goal line. And it had an 11-point lead.
Plus, Steichen would be calling the plays.
That skill has made the former UNLV quarterback a lot of money, earning him also borderline “genius” praise from Tony Romo, the ex-Dallas Cowboys QB and CBS analyst.
How it turned out for the Colts:
Four possessions, zero first downs, four punts.
K.C. (6-5) rallied to win, dropping Indy (8-3) behind Denver (9-3) in pursuit of the AFC’s top seed and playoff bye.
The in-game heat on NFL coaches induces screams of agony or joy that can be heard outside of press-level coaching booths.
In chats Steichen often sounds folksy, like the late actor Jimmy Stewart.
Sunday in his postgame comments, he sounded like Stewart — only it was Stewart’s George Bailey spitting out clipped words as things unravel in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
“We gotta be better, I gotta be better,” Steichen said rapid-fire, before repeating those phrases six more times.
“It starts with myself” was another go-to.
Steve Spagnuolo is Kansas City’s defensive coordinator.
He’s an all-time great. The Chiefs have reached five of seven Super Bowls, winning three, since Andy Reid fired friend Bob Dutton — against whom the Steichen-coached Rivers led San Diego to a 29-28 road win in 2018 — and hired Spagnuolo entering the ‘19 season.
Come the fourth quarter, sharks like Spagnuolo will have figured out most offenses.
Related, late in a close game, a quarterback’s limitations often stand out.
The Chiefs appeared to speed up journeyman quarterback Daniel Jones over the final quarter. Making it tougher for Jones, the Chiefs had often stuffed the Colts’ ground game.
Most of Steichen’s late-game calls were quick passes.
“I felt like there was a lot of stuff that I wanted to get called that I felt good about it in the pass game,” Steichen replied, to a query about the offense perhaps becoming too unbalanced. “And we just weren’t efficient in doing it. And it starts with me.”
Great players matter the most.
Chiefs defensive end-tackle Chris Jones is one of them.
He made a play worthy of his three Super Bowl rings, leading to lost yardage for Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor. Rather than converting a third-and-1 from their 43, on the first drive of overtime, the Colts punted for the fourth straight time.
Now, the San Diego angle.
It arrived on Harrison Butker’s game-winning 27-yard field goal.
Assisting Butker were two players who were with San Diego State in 2021: tackle Josh Simmons, who slowed two Colts rushers; and holder Matt Araiza, K.C.’s punter.
As Butker’s kick went through, Steichen looked placid. He removed his headset and congratulated Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
This is a coach who has a 25-20 record with Jones (a reclamation project), Garden Minshew II (a good backup) and Anthony Richardson (a raw youngster) as his starting QBs and who had much success with Rivers, Justin Herbert and Jaylen Hurts as an assistant coach.
Can he apply Sunday’s hard yet invaluable lessons, served up by football chess master Reid, Spagnuolo and Jones?
One more unanswerable question: Will the Chiefs, having pulled out what Jones called a “must” victory, continue to torment millions of football fans who ache for their AFC dynasty to end ASAP?