As Luck Would have It

Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes and Adam Vinatieri made a tie-breaking 55-yard field goal with 6:13 to play, giving Indianapolis a surprising 27-24 victory over Denver.

The Colts (4-5) ended a three-game losing streak and stayed atop the AFC South by ruining Peyton Manning’s return to Indy again.

Denver (7-1) was the only unbeaten team to lose this weekend.

Luck was brilliant, going 21 of 36 for 252 yards. He broke a 17-17 tie with a TD pass early in the fourth quarter, then helped snap a 24-24 tie by setting up Vinatieri for the field goal on the next drive. Indy ran out the final 5:57.

Manning was 21 of 36 for 281 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. He couldn’t break Brett Favre’s record for regular-season wins (186) by a quarterback and fell 3 yards short of becoming the NFL’s career passing leader.

The longest field goal of Adam Vinatieri’s Indianapolis Colts career provided what proved to be the deciding points in a 27-24 Sunday upset of the previously unbeaten Denver Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“That was a big one,” the 42-year-old kicker said of the victory after his 55-yard field goal enabled the Colts (4-5) to remain atop the AFC South Division and snap a three-game losing streak.

While quarterback Andrew Luck will receive a lot of the glory for the Colts’ biggest win of the season — and he sure did his part with two touchdown passes and scrambling for first downs to sustain drives — several of his teammates came up clutch.

It was fitting with retired Colts all-time leading rusher Edgerrin James in the house that running back Frank Gore was a true workhorse in Edge’s image. His 28 carries were the most since 2011 with San Francisco as the 11th-year pro gained 83 yards and got the Colts off to a fast start with a 7-yard touchdown rush in the opening quarter.

“We know what we have in this locker room,” Gore said. “We work hard every day on the field, of the field. It was a big win.”

The commitment to run the ball was an obvious change brought on by associate head coach Rob Chudzinski, who replaced fired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton on Tuesday.

Another noticeable difference was Luck spreading the ball around to often-overlooked targets. Tight end Jack Doyle caught a 3-yard touchdown pass with a heads-up extension of the ball over the goal line to give the Colts a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. It was just the third score in three NFL seasons for the hometown fan favorite from Cathedral High School.