Indianapolis Colts Are Decided Underdogs Against Kansas City Chiefs, Least Likely AFC Super Bowl Team

After winning nine of their final 10 regular-season games and handily defeating the Houston Texans on Wild-Card Weekend, the Indianapolis Colts have to be taken seriously as a Super Bowl contender. The team’s path to winning the AFC, however, is a difficult one.

In order to reach the conference title game, the Colts have to win on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2019 NFL divisional playoffs. Indianapolis is a 5.5-point underdog against the AFC’s No.1 seed, per OddsShark.

If the Colts manage to pull off the upset in Arrowhead Stadium against MVP favorite Patrick Mahomes, they’ll have to win another tough road matchup before Super Bowl LIII. Indianapolis would visit the New England Patriots or Los Angeles Chargers. As the AFC’s No.6 seed, the Colts can’t host a game this postseason.

Indianapolis has the worst Super Bowl odds of the remaining AFC playoff teams. Only the Colts enter the second round of the playoffs with worse than 5/1 odds to win the conference.

A Super Bowl between the Colts and Dallas Cowboys is considered to be the least likely scenario of the 16 possible matchups.

The Colts are hoping to become just the second road team to win in Kansas CIty this season. Including their wild-card win over Houston, Indianapolis has a three-game winning streak on the road against teams that ended the season above .500.

Andrew Luck is 2-3 in career road playoff games. The quarterback is the favorite to win the award for 2018 NFL Comeback Player of the Year after finishing behind only Mahomes with 39 touchdown passes.

After carrying the Colts for most of his career, Luck has had plenty of help this season. He’s been well-protected by one of the league’s best offensive lines, which is led by All-Pro rookie guard Quentin Nelson.

Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard was also a First-Team All-Pro selection. Indianapolis’ defense has been terrific since the team lost five of their first six games to start the season. They’ll be facing a Chiefs’ offense that led the league in both points and yards.

Indianapolis was a small underdog in the first round. The Colts ended the regular season as favorites in nine of their last 10 games.